


Nameless

by Vixen_Argentum



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:36:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vixen_Argentum/pseuds/Vixen_Argentum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the disappearance of his father and sister, Eren's life is torn from him when he learns that people are trying to kidnap him for reasons unknown. In an effort to protect him, he is thrown together with renowned fighter Levi. With that, Eren sees a side of the world that he never knew existed. This is a Loveless-based AU, but no knowledge of it is fine. Levi/Eren main, but many others will show up.</p><p>Rated M as of Ch 7.  Will eventually be E.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Clueless

**Author's Note:**

> There will be lots of pairs in this piece. The main pair will be Levi/Eren, since it suits my ideas best, but there will be hints of Levi/Others, and Eren/Others. For secondary pairs, plan on Ymir/Christa and many others. Everything else, I'll decide as I go. I've sunk my teeth into an idea, and I'm gonna see how far I can take it
> 
> For those of you who aren't familiar with Loveless, virgins have cat ears and a tail. Lose your virginity and poof! Everybody knows. Everything else will be explained.

 

Ch 1 Clueless

Eren ducked into his room, slamming the door behind him. The frenzied footsteps grew ever closer until they stopped. He closed his eyes and covered his ears, wrapping his tail around him.

"You're not my son!" Carla screamed. "Bring me back Eren! I know you've done something with him!"

Carla pounded on the door violently until she just sank down to her knees and began to bawl. Eren took a deep breath. He wished with all his might that he could open that door and comfort her, but the hand shaped bruises that covered his arms warned him otherwise.

Eren uncovered his ears now that the yelling was gone. But, his mother still hadn't moved.

"First, Grisha left me without saying a word. Then, Mikasa just vanished. Do I really have to lose my son, too?" she continued to sob.

_Mikasa…_

His sister was a remarkable human being, talented in her studies, in athletics, in anything she touched. She was always so calm and cool-headed in dealing with the world. Any time Eren screwed up, Mikasa always knew what to do to fix it again.

 _I will protect you with my life_ , she said. Eren always told her not to be so morbid, but she'd soberly shake her head.  _You mean the world to me._

But, like his mother had said, his father had left home suddenly without reason, and now Mikasa had left as well. It was very strange; all of her books, all of her clothing, everything that she owned was left behind as if she had just gotten up to take a stroll around the block. They'd called the police and filed a report, but there were never any leads to her disappearance.

His father on the other hand, he was used to having come in and out of his life. He was a physician and biochemist who worked in pharmaceuticals. When he was in the heat of a project, sometimes he wouldn't come home for weeks. But now, it had been 3 years.

Eren didn't understand what had triggered the switch in his mother. Soon after Mikasa left, it was as if she couldn't recognize him anymore. She'd yell at him about what he wore, what he ate, what he said, how it was not what the "real" Eren would do. There would be some days of lucidity, but for the most part, she shut herself away mourning her losses. He hadn't changed, had he?

No, he had changed when Mikasa left. He had become more sullen and withdrawn. All he could do was throw himself into his studies to try and forget it. But even then, he could never forget.

_What was so important that Mikasa left him all alone?_

He heard his mother stand up and walk back down the hall to her room. Eren let out a sigh of relief. He changed into his pajamas and crawled into his bed. Tomorrow he started school at a brand new high school, his third new school in three years. Somehow he had to try.

xXx

"We all have a true name, Eren." Mikasa's jet black hair is shiny in the sun.

"Then what's yours?" Eren stares into her warm grey eyes.

"If I tell you, you can't tell anyone else." She lays back against the hammock they were both swinging on and twitches her tail.

"I won't!" Eren insists. "I'll carry it with me until I die."

"And you make fun of me for being serious." Mikasa laughs. She grabs Eren's hand. "My name is Dauntless. Dauntless, incapable of being intimidated or discouraged."

Eren smiles as he holds her name in his mouth. "It suits you."

Mikasa's dark ears flatten. "Names are heavy things."

"I wonder what mine is," Eren muses. Mikasa tugs on one of his ears. Eren yelps. "Ow! What are you doing!"

"You  _don't_  know what your name is?" Mikasa's glare is flat. Eren shakes his head. She sighs. "One day, you just know."

"My true name…" Eren trails off as he falls asleep in the warm summer sun.

xXx

Brrrrring!

The bell signaling the end of the school day had never felt more welcoming.

Eren had no idea how he got through his first day at Shiganshina High. For one, this high school was way bigger than his last and was laid out in a confusing pattern, so he spent quite a bit of it lost. The classes themselves seemed normal; the teachers were normal; but every minute of every class period seemed to creep by as slowly as they could. His locker was in the most inconvenient place in the whole school: the last row in the far corner of the basement. (He wondered what schools had basements these days anyhow.) Regardless, right now he was glad that it was over.

He stood in the schoolyard, watching the sea of students. He recognized a few of them from classes. A girl named Mina Carolina, a boy called Millius Zermusky, and one more, Thomas Wagner. Eren blushed. Thomas had no ears or tail. He was the same age as Eren, but he was already an adult. In fact, looking at all of the students, quite a few of them were earless. Boys without ears, girls without ears…

 _It must be amazing_ , he thought,  _to become an adult._

He couldn't imagine that now. It required intimacy and there really wasn't anyone in Eren's life like that now. When Mikasa was still around, they were both extremely close to their friend Armin, but soon after Mikasa was gone, he stopped seeing Armin come to school, too. Maybe he'd find it easier to make friends here, maybe not. The question was whether he had it in him to try.

Eren didn't really want to go back home, but there really wasn't anywhere else for him. He stood at the gate for a while longer, procrastinating as the students left.

"Eren Jaeger!" a voice called out.

Eren looked around, but didn't see anyone.

"Eren Jaeger!"

Again, he spun around, but there was nothing.

"If you are Eren Jaeger, you are a lot more dense than I thought you'd be."

The voice was now loud and clear and coming from his back. He turned around to see a man who was shorter than him, dressed in a green cape, with dark hair and heavy-lidded eyes. No ears. No tail. He was an adult!

"My apologies! I didn't see you." Eren stammered.

"Oh,  _that's_  an old one. I'll tell you now that I'm not one for jokes, brat," the man grumbled.

Eren's skin went white. "That's not what I meant at all! I honestly didn't see you, it has nothing to do with..."

"Jeez, you just keep digging yourself a deeper hole. I never imagined that Mikasa's brother would be such a fuckwit."

Eren felt as if his stomach had taken a nosedive. Mikasa? He knew Mikasa!?

"Well, she's adopted," Eren offered.

"You've got different last names and you're not Asian. I'd have never guessed," the man snarked.

Eren just stood there, put out. Who the hell was this prickly man and why was he here?

The man exhaled harshly. "I'm gonna cut to the chase, Eren. I am here because you're in grave danger. The organization has become aware of some plots to steal you and assimilate you with the enemy."

"The organization? The enemy?" Eren questioned. This was getting weird. "Who are they?"

"Everything will be explained in due course. Right now, I'm only telling you what you need to know."

The man pulled his fist to his chest in a tight salute. "I am Levi of the name Infinity. I have been tasked with being your fighter until my job is done."

Eren jumped. He remembered Mikasa. "Infinity!? You told me your true name just like that!" Then, he sheepishly pressed his hands together. "I don't know what my name is, sir. Is that a problem?"

Levi's eyes looked like Mikasa's had those years ago. "You don't even know your own name? Good grief."

"Uh, also…" Eren said, wincing. "What's a fighter?"

Eren noted that now Levi looked a little ill.

"So you're telling me that for as long as Mikasa's been with us, you know nothing about what she did? You never questioned her reflexes, her way with words, where she went at night, anything like that?"

"Uh…no?" Eren had never felt more stupid in his entire life.

"Just listen to me right now," Levi growled. "If someone intercepts us and tries to attack you, I exist to protect you. That's all you need to know."

Eren nodded. Who on earth would be trying to attack him? Most of what Levi said didn't make any sense, but he felt strangely comfortable in his presence, and weirdly enough, Eren believed him.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here." Levi motioned for Eren to move. "Stay close to me."

Levi walked out to the back of the school yard and climbed the fence. Eren clambered after him, keeping up, but just barely. They zigzagged through back yards, some open, some fenced-in and private. Eren wondered how Levi could keep his sense of direction and why they were taking this route, but he didn't dare ask another thing. After about an hour and a half of winding around, they reached a forest of giant trees. The biggest he'd ever seen.

It was interesting to Eren how some people just had the ability to make everybody around them feel their mood. Right now, Eren could tell Levi was tense. Very tense.

"What's wrong?" Eren asked.

Levi looked up at him. Maybe Eren wasn't as dense as he thought.

"We're staying away from the roads so that nobody can ambush us by car. This forest provides the best cover for us and my organization lies near the other side if we walk straight through. Hell, if we're on the other side of the forest, I can call for immediate backup from the other fighting pairs."

Eren nodded. "So, I guess we go through the forest quickly, then."

"You don't understand, brat," said Levi. "I had a horse tied up for us to ride. Somebody's been through here."

Eren now noticed the hoofprints on the ground. They followed the treeline towards the now setting sun.

"So, do we go after the horse, or do we go through the forest?" Eren asked.

"Through the forest." Levi said flatly. "We'll have Mike and Nanaba track the horse tomorrow."

It was dark in the forest, and it grew darker still as the daylight waned. The spaces between the tree trunks were wide, so he could see how Levi could have easily traveled by horse. Eren loved the strong smell of pine that filled the air, how the needles blanketed underfoot. It was soft enough that he was sure he could take a nap on it, if the circumstances had been different.

Eren, still curious about his situation, attempted to break the ice again.

"Are those two, Mike and Nanaba both fighters like you?" Eren asked.

Levi smacked his hand to his forehead. For a little while, he had managed to forget how much Eren didn't know because his sister was living a double life.

"No, only one of them is, Mike. The man can catch scents better than a bloodhound." Levi shook his head. "Nanaba is a sacrifice, like you."

"Like me?" Eren crossed his hands across his chest. "I've heard a lot of stuff today, and if I'm to be sacrificed, I'd like to know why," he said sarcastically.

Levi tried hard to suppress his rare urge to laugh. "No, idiot. Fighters deal damage but generally don't take damage themselves. A sacrifice accepts the damage from the enemy fighter so that his or her fighter can continue to act."

"So if we get in a fight, I'm the one who gets hurt?" Eren whined. All of the sudden this wasn't sounding so good.

"That's why it's my job to protect you, dumbass. I already told you that."

"Yes, sir."

Eren was still confused about a lot of things, but now at least he understood a little more of what was going on. There were so many more questions that he wanted to ask Levi, but he knew better than to piss him off any further.

_How did fighters fight? What kind of damage was he risking? How are pairs matched? Was Mikasa a fighter or a sacrifice? Where the hell was Mikasa anyway? Who was coming after him? Why of all people did they send Levi?_

A piercing screech echoed through the air, jolting Eren out of his thoughts. The hair on his tail stood on end and his ears pointed back.

"Shit," said Levi. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"What is that sound?" Eren covered both sets of ears, but it did little to help.

"Tch! You can actually hear that?" Levi said, startled. "Nevermind. Another fighter's calling out to us."

"You mean, we're gonna battle!?" Eren's body coursed with adrenaline.

"Well, maybe." Levi stared hard into Eren. "If I'm gonna fight for you, brat, we've gotta make a connection."

"Connection?"

Before Eren could go anywhere, Levi slammed him back into the trunk of the tree behind him. He curiously ran his fingers over Eren's brown furry ears and rubbed them between his thumbs and forefingers to feel their velvety texture. Eren blushed at how good it felt—no one had ever done it to him, not in quite that way. He let out a little whimper.

"Damn virgin," Levi mumbled as he framed Eren's face with his hands.

There, on the eve of battle, Levi pulled Eren down into a deep, slow kiss.


	2. Senseless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the feedback and support. In my appreciation, I'm releasing this chapter early! :) I hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. It's my first time ever trying to write a spell battle.

Ch 2 Senseless

Eren couldn’t believe what was happening. 

The lips pressed against his own were softer than he would have ever imagined.  Every point of contact, the palms that rested against his cheeks, the elbows against his chest, the thighs that pressed against his own burned with heat.  He was melting, he was _sure_ he was melting and so he wrapped his arms around Levi’s back for support.  He stayed there, basking in it, the threat of the battle now pushed far from his mind.

Levi pulled back but didn’t let go, his eyes meeting Eren’s.  “So, what do you think?  Is our connection strong enough?”

Eren’s mind was still spinning.  No matter how he tried, he couldn’t move or even string words together in a coherent sentence.  He had never kissed anyone before, well not like that, and now the world made even less sense.  He had just met Levi; he was pretty sure he liked girls.  And yet still this kiss awakened something in him.

“I see,” said Levi.  “I’ve got no choice, let’s try again.”

Try again!?

Eren found himself in Levi’s embrace.  Levi moved his hands to play with Eren’s velveteen ears, which earned him a little whine.  Eren found himself sliding down the tree, but Levi caught him under the arm.  Again, they kissed passionately.  Eren relaxed his jaw and welcomed Levi’s tongue.  He marveled in the taste and the silky texture.  For as brusque as the man was, Eren was amazed at how incredibly gentle he could be. 

This time, Eren pushed back into the kiss and explored Levi with his own tongue.  His hands traced Levi’s back and he pulled him in at the waist, grinding into him slightly.  He was getting the hang of this.  He wasn’t as perfect as Levi was, but something within him clicked.

 Connection.  Connection…  How does one make a connection?  Stretching, reaching, merging…  Now in this moment, they were swept away.

Eren couldn’t tell if the kiss lasted two seconds, two minutes, or two hours.  But this time when Levi pulled back, Eren was gasping for breath.

Levi raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head.  “You’ve gotta breathe through your nose, brat.”

“Yes, sir.”  Eren stared into space as he panted.  How exactly did you tell someone that you just forgot how to breathe in general?  “Did we make a connection?”

Levi cocked his head.  “You mean, you don’t see it?”  He touched Eren’s chest and touched his own.  “From here to here we’ve forged a bond.  This is the strength of my will to protect you.”

Eren squinted but still, all he saw was empty space.  But, he could definitely tell that he felt more _something_ towards Levi, whatever that was.

“And kissing forms a connection between fighter and sacrifice?  Otherwise, I’m a little confused as to why I’ve spent the last few minutes making out with another man, who I just met, in a forest.”  Reality was starting to creep into Eren’s head.

Levi’s eyes were serious.  “Connections form in lots of ways.  Some pairs are related by blood.  Some by deep friendship.  Others romantic love.”  He paused.  “When I look at you, I see someone I must protect.  A kiss is sufficient affection to convey my will so that you’ll believe in it as deeply as I do.”

“Levi…”  Eren reached for him again.

The screeching filled the air again, but this time it was even louder.

“Argh!”  Eren covered his ears.  “What the hell?”

Levi stared him down again.  “You don’t know anything about fighters or sacrifices, and you can’t see a soul bond.  You don’t even know your fucking name.  But, you can hear a fighter’s call even though you’re untrained?”

“I guess so.”  Eren replied.  “Maybe it’s adaptive and it gives me time to run?”

“No,” said Levi.  “You can only hear that sound if you’re already inside a fighter’s sphere of power.”

“Oh.”  Eren looked around still covering his ears.  “Where are they?” He asked.  “Do you know who it is?”

“If I send out a call, we will meet quickly,” said Levi.  “I’ve never fought this particular fighter, but maybe one of my colleagues has.”  He shrugged.

“I’m gonna call out to the other fighter and initiate a spell battle,” said Levi.  “All you gotta do is sit there, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

Levi closed his eyes and another high pitched note filled the air, slightly lower in pitch than the other fighter.  He walked forward though a path between the trees, the only place lit by the moonlight.  His pace quickened then he broke into a run.  Eren rushed behind him until all of the sudden Levi stopped.

A girl about Eren’s age jumped down from a branch on one of the trees, landing about fifteen feet in front of them.  Her skin was pale, like the moon, her hair blonde and pulled back.  She had light colored ears with a dark rim and a long tail with a dark tip.  Her eyes were sullen and a stormy blue-grey color.

“What have we here?” the girl mused.  She looked beyond Levi.  “Are you Eren?”

Eren watched Levi stiffen.  “Your sacrifice.  Where are they?”

She laughed.  “My sacrifice?  I’ve never met my sacrifice.  But, I assume they’re out there somewhere.”

Levi stepped in front of Eren.  “You’re disgusting, not even caring.”

“Oh, are you really any better than me?”  She looked at him with an amused expression on her face.  “Intel told me all about you.  You’re Infinity, the only man for the job.”

The look in Levi’s eyes was murderous.  “I am Levi of the name Infinity.  Infinity, power streaming from a realm of unlimited possibilities.”

“Unlimited possibilities, what a euphemism,” she taunted.  “As an Infinity fighter, you can take any sacrifice.  It doesn’t have to be an Infinity one.  With you, absolutely _anyone_ will do.”

“She’s just trying to piss you off,” Eren whispered.  He tugged backwards on Levi’s cloak, but he didn’t budge. 

“And what of the Infinity sacrifice?”  The girl continued.  “Was she as slutty as you are, with being able to take any fighter as her own?  I hear she was quite legendary.  It’s a shame she died.”

All that could be heard was a gust of wind blowing through the trees.  Eren could feel the tension surrounding him, to the point of making him feel a little nauseous.  He looked from the back of Levi’s squared shoulders to the smirk on the enemy’s mouth.

“I declare this a battle of spells,” Levi said evenly.

“Levi?” said Eren.  He pulled tighter on Levi’s cloak.  “Levi!” 

Levi ripped the fabric out of his hands.  “I’ve got this, brat.  Just shut up, and it’ll be over.”

“I accept this battle,” the girl said.  “I am Annie Leonhardt of the name Heartless.  Heartless, a complete lack of feeling or consideration for anyone, friend or foe.”

Levi lifted his hands.  “Battle system, expand,” he shouted.

“Battle system, expand,” Annie echoed.  “Rip to shreds, make him cower from phantom claws”

“Full power shield around Eren.  Nothing can get through.  Everything is reflected,” Levi commanded.

Eren marveled at the translucent shimmer in the air around him.  He registered the tearing of cloth and saw Annie now with rips in her clothing, and cuts on her cheeks.  That had been meant for him!?

“What’s the deal with trying to mark up the sacrifice?” Levi spat.

“It doesn’t matter how I get him.  It just matters that I do,” Annie stated matter of factly.  “Now are we going to spell battle or talk?”

“Without a sacrifice your power is halved, without hope your defense is weakened,” Levi roared.

“Your power is divided.  Your team has two names.  Restrain the sacrifice,” said Annie.

“Your spell is irrelevant,” yelled Levi.  “Infinity knows no bounds in power.”

“No, your bond is half-hearted!”  Annie growled.  “It will go through!”

Suddenly, Eren’s wrists were grasped by shackles, which were welded to a metal collar about his neck.  The metal was freezing and he jumped at the shock.

“You okay?” Levi asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Eren said.  “It’s a little hard to breathe, but I’ll manage.” 

Eren would believe absolutely anything about the world at this point.  Fighters?  Sacrifices?  Spell battles?  And Mikasa did this stuff and didn’t tell a soul!?  Now here he was in some odd bondage getup while two people argued in a poetic fashion how his body would be harmed or protected.

“Your defense creeps lower and lower still, like the petals falling from a wilting flower,” said Levi.

“Extra shield, negate his words,” argued Annie.

“Your shield lowers without a bond.”  Levi stepped back towards Eren.  “Our bond grows stronger before your eyes.”  He grabbed Eren by the collar and kissed him frantically.  “You cannot hold back a bond like ours.”

The restraints around Eren’s body cracked, freeing the weight of his hands from his neck.

“Split the bond, hold their names at true value,” Annie commanded.

“This bond will stay, end final.”  Levi looked up at the sky.  “Summon for me stormcloud.  Rain down in crackling fury and vanquish the foe.”

Annie’s defense was far too low to ward off the spell.  She screamed as the electricity from the lightning passed through her body.  She slumped over on the ground, heaving.

“Are you ready to call this battle finished?  It’s bad form to battle until one member is dead, you know,” Levi said.  He reached a hand towards her, offering to help her up.

The body on the ground began to laugh.  “Finished?  You think I’m finished?”  Her piercing eyes looked up at Levi, excited.  “The boss will probably get mad at me for doing this, but I know what can finish you off.”

“Titan, lend me your strength!”  Annie grabbed a knife off of her belt and drew it across her palm.

Suddenly, the figure of a woman as tall as the trees grew as if from nowhere.  The body was skinless but the face was reminiscent of the wielder.

“Fuck!”  Levi grabbed Eren and threw him as far as he could behind him.  “Holy shit!”

The female titan took a slow step towards Levi and bent down, reaching towards him.

 “Secession!” Levi cried.  “Battle has gone on too long.  Move the heartless one and her frightening beast to the home where they belong.”

“Hey!”  Yelled Annie.  “Fight me you coward.”  She tried to charge forward, but something held her so that she was running in place.  The titan’s face showed a mixture of confusion and amusement as it was frozen where it stood.

Eren watched as both Annie and her titan were enveloped in swirls of air and suddenly flew far into the distance.

“Fuck.”

Levi collapsed on the soft pine needle cushioned earth.  He stared at the sky lost in thought.  Eren sat down next to him.  It was obvious that something really wrong had happened.

“Where did they go?” said Eren, curiously.

“Wherever their ‘home’ is.  I said it right there in the damn spell.”

“Right, sorry.”

Eren tried again to gain more information.  “I take it that…er…titan wasn’t normal?”

Levi rubbed his forehead.  “It wasn’t normal, but one day it will be.  I’d heard reports from some of our scouts, but I didn’t expect to face a titan user today.”

“And she didn’t even have a sacrifice…” Eren trailed off.

Levi shook his head.  “With you as you are now, we can’t fight a foe like that.  That’s why I had to banish her.  But, because I banished her, it means we’re bound to fight them again at a later date.”

“How do I get stronger?” asked Eren.

“I am taking you to my organization.  In it is a school for fighters and sacrifices.  We call it the Three Walls.”

“The Three Walls.”  Eren echoed.

Levi stood up and brushed the pine needles from his pants.  “Let’s get out of here before anything else happens.”

“Yes, sir.”

The quiet of the forest was broken by their footsteps.  Now without the sun, Eren held on to Levi’s cape to keep from going astray.  _The man must have eyes like a cat_ , he thought.  He wondered how much further he had to walk and how far away this Three Walls place was from the edge of the woods.  And on top of that, he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch and was now rather hungry.

Eren’s stomach rumbled, an angry, empty sound.

“Shit.  Forget getting eaten by a titan, my sacrifice might be first in line.”  Levi said sarcasticly.  “We’re almost there.  I’ll call to let them know that we’re reaching the edge of the forest, so they can meet us with a horse for the rest of the way.”

Levi pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

“Hello.”  Pause.  “Of course it’s me!  Who the fuck else uses this number!?”  Levi sighed.  “We’re about 15-20 minutes out, so if you could send someone with a horse to meet us…”

Eren stared at him bemusedly, listening to the conversation. 

Levi kicked the dirt with his foot in frustration.  “Yes!  I know I left on a horse!  I rode the damn horse all the way through the forest and tied it up, but some asshole set it free.”

This Three Walls place intrigued Eren even more.

“Well, I couldn’t just ride it onto a high school’s grounds!  Look, it doesn’t matter.  Forests edge with a horse in 15 minutes, that’s all we need.  I’ve got that brat with me and we’ve already seen battle.”

Suddenly Eren was aware of the fact that he had never ridden a horse outside of some birthday parties that he attended as a child.

“Okay, better safe than sorry.  Bye.”

Levi clicked off the phone and slid it back into his pocket.  “Fucking shitty glasses…” he muttered.

Eren’s body coursed with excitement.  He was going to meet more people from the organization, and maybe he could get some answers.

Maybe he could even see Mikasa?

No, he shouldn’t be thinking about that.  If Mikasa thought that staying away would protect him, he would honor her decision.  But still, his heart ached.  All the stories he never knew, all the things she never told.

At least he knew her true name, and he would guard it with his life.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they reached the edge of the forest.

“Over here!”  Levi yelled.

Two horses galloped over to where they stood, one horse riderless and the other one holding two people.  They immediately dismounted upon meeting Levi and Eren.

“Corporal!” said a woman with heavy glasses that had square rims.

“I told you to stop calling me that stupid nickname,” Levi growled.

A woman who still had her ears, but had kind eyes came over to Eren.  “He said you’ve seen battle, and I know you’ve never fought.”  She circled him, touching him lightly.  “Are you hurt anywhere?  Did you make it out okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Levi shielded most things from me,” said Eren.

“Well, he is our best fighter.”  She said.  “We came as backup just in case anything was following you.”

“Get on the horse, brat!”  Levi was already in the saddle and circling around Eren.  “You can talk to these turkeys all you want later.”

“Yes, sir.”

The woman with the glasses dissolved into giggles.  “He calls him ‘sir’!  Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?  Just like you’d talk to a Corporal…”

“Shut up you nosy old hen.”

Eren put his foot in a stirrup and grabbed the horn.  He pushed himself up and ungracefully flopped into the saddle.  He attempted to readjust himself by balancing his weight on the horn and the stirrups, but he couldn’t seem to make himself quite centered.  He was a little to the left no matter what he tried.

Levi looked back at him.  “You’re not good at this, are you?”  He sighed.  “Never mind.  Arms around my waist and hold on.  We’ll teach you to ride, too.”

Eren wrapped his arms around Levi and held him tight.  He pressed his head to Levi’s shoulder, noting that was the way that the two female riders were positioned.  In his chest, he felt Levi’s heartbeat, the slow pacing of an athlete.

To form a connection…

 Eren gazed at the two women on the horse.  Since they were “backup”, he assumed that they were fighter and sacrifice as well.  They looked as if they were one.  Eren thought back to what Annie had said about Infinity.  This must have been what she meant.  He knew that he and Levi looked nothing like that fighting pair.  They were two separate things, two people who had just met, with their own struggles.

But even now, on the bouncing backs of horses, they drew closer and closer to The Three Walls.  Maybe one day, Eren could look like that, too.


	3. Helpless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! This is now my NaNoWriMo project. Wish me luck!
> 
> In the future the rating of this story will be going up. It will probably be M by Ch 6-7. I dunno if I will get to the E rating or not (think around Ch 16-18), but know that it will be going up.
> 
> And just curious about you guys...what days do you like to see updates?
> 
> And now, to the list of pairs, I add Hanji/Petra.

Ch 3  Helpless

The Three Walls was situated deep within another forested lot.  A high brick wall, with metal work on the top seemed to go for ages, surrounding the complex.  It was broken up only by the massive iron gate that they now stood in front of, with a keypad.  Levi punched in a code and the metal sprang to life.  They rode the horses up the dirt path that wound around the hill.  Cloaked by nature, Eren saw what looked like a mansion hiding at the top of the hill.

Levi urged their horse onward to the stables.  Upon arrival, he slid off the beast easily, and Eren somehow managed to get out of the saddle without hurting himself, the horse, or landing on his ass.  Levi led it into a stall, the farthest down the row.

“Eren!”  Two hands grabbed his shoulders and gripped tightly.  “Let’s go inside!”  The woman with the glasses pushed him towards the house.

Her partner walked side by side with him.  “Is there anything you need?  I realize that you had to come here without packing anything.”

Eren shook his head.  “I don’t need anything really, but I haven’t eaten since noon, so food would be nice.”

“Yeah, since Levi originally meant for you to take the forest on horseback, you would have been here in time for dinner.”  She twitched her ears.  “We’ll take you into the kitchen then.”

Eren knew it wasn’t polite to stare, but this woman was an adult in age, and he couldn’t stop looking at her fawn colored ears and long fluffy tail.  I mean, how old was she?  25 or so?  And the person she was paired to didn’t have any ears…so what exactly was their relationship?

“Uh oh!”  The woman with the glasses pulled on Eren’s ears.  “Somebody’s hung up on Petra’s ears!” she sang.

Eren blushed.  “No!  No, that’s not it.”  He blurted, “Losing your ears is a personal thing.  If it’s not the time, it’s not the time.”

Petra poked the other woman in the ribs.  “Hanji, quit making trouble.”  She mussed Eren’s hair.  “Thank you for defending me.”

“I’ll take those ears any time you want!,” Hanji crooned.

“I know you will,” Petra sighed.  She pulled Hanji into a kiss.

They reached the door and once it opened, Hanji dragged Eren behind her in a beeline to the kitchen.

“We had pasta tonight and I’m not sure if it’s gone yet…”

A huge belch resonated through the hallway.

“Well, maybe…”

Eren reached the kitchen to find a girl with a brown haired ponytail who was about his age.  She held a pot in one hand and a serving spoon in the other.  She pointed her ears back as she sucked a noodle into her mouth sheepishly.

“That’s Sasha,” said Hanji.  “She’s the fighter unit for the Bottomless pair.”  She laughed.  “Sasha’s a bottomless pit when it comes to food.  If I ate like that, Petra’d have to roll me into battle.”

“Well, since leftovers are out, let’s see what’s in the pantry,” Petra said.  She opened the door and pulled out some bread.  “A sandwich okay?”

“Sure, anything’s fine.  Thank you so much.”

“Don’t worry about it.  You’ll be living here too.”

“Wait, what?”  Eren hadn’t really thought about that.

“Yeah,” said Hanji.  “There’s no way Erwin would let you go home now.  Not with the intel we’ve got.”

“Who’s Erwin?”  Eren asked.

“He’s one of the three administrators of Three Walls.  Occasionally, he’ll teach.  He’s the one who dispatched Levi to come and get you.”  Hanji sighed.  “Levi is…Erwin’s bitch.  Since he’s partnerless and an Infinity type, Levi gets tossed from one mission to another, doing the dirty work.”

“Anyway, this place kind of acts like a boarding school for young fighters and sacrifices.  There are a few older pairs like Petra and I, and we double as support staff, security, and teachers.”

Petra handed Eren a sandwich that was bursting with ham, turkey, two cheeses, lettuce, and tomato.  “I hope this is enough food for you.”

“It’s perfect,” said Eren.  He wolfed down the food.  He knew he was hungry, but adrenaline had suppressed most of it so he had no idea how ravenous he really was until he took a bite.

“Actually, I was wondering something,” said Eren.  “You said this is a school for fighters and sacrifices?  As in, together?”

Petra nodded.  “Right now almost everyone is paired, but we usually train fighters and sacrifices in separate groups rather than as a pair.  Paired exercises aren’t carried out until we’re sure both sides know what they’re doing.”

“Hmmm.  I was just wondering if my fighter unit is here, and that’s why Levi was sent to get me.”

Hanji cocked her head.  “Well, what’s your name?”

Eren blushed.  Not again.  “I-I don’t know what my name is.  I didn’t even know I was a sacrifice or what one even was until today!”

Hanji looked at Petra.  “Your name will be carved on your body.  Your partner will have the same name in the same place.  It’s a very special thing.”

Both of them raised the hem of their shirts.  The name “Peerless” was marked down the right side of their ribcages, like a tattoo stretching from their underarms to just above their waists.

Hanji smiled.  “We never got to formally introduce ourselves, I forgot.  I am Hanji Zoe, and my sacrifice is Petra Ral.  Our name is Peerless.  Peerless, an excellence that cannot be equaled.”

Eren lashed his tail.  This was frustrating.  “I don’t have anything like that.”

“Are you sure?”  Eren didn’t trust that glint in Hanji’s eyes.

“Um, well—“  Eren was cut off when Hanji grabbed him and pulled him into what looked like a small office and shut the door.

“Maybe it’s just where you can’t see it,” she said.

Hanji grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head.

“Hanji!?  Hanji!  Stop!”  He tried to keep his shirt on, but was failing miserably.

“Shh!” said Hanji.  “It’s okay.  I’m a doctor!”

“What the hell?”  Eren yelled.

Hanji took advantage of his moment of shock and disposed of his pants.  “I’m a professional.  I’ve got the degree hanging on my wall, I swear.”

“That doesn’t make it any better!”  Eren hissed.

“Hey, I’m just trying to help.  Do you need me to call in Petra to help hold you down?”  Hanji now had him pinned against the wall.

Eren blushed even harder.  “No.  Since you’re a doctor, I guess I’ll let you take a look at me.”

“Good good!”  Hanji clapped her hands together.  “I’ll find it for you, for sure!”

“Maybe it’s on your scalp,” she ran her fingers through Eren’s hair, searching for something in each little part she made.

“Not behind your ears, not under your arms, not on your shoulders, not on your back…hmmm.”

She tugged on the back of his boxers.

“Hey!  Wait—”

“Nope, nothing back there.”  She let the band snap back.  “And I trust you’ve looked at the front yourself.”

Eren was quite sure that there was nothing written _there_. 

“Not on your legs, your ankles.  Lift this foot.  Okay.  Lift that one.  Huh.”  Hanji scratched her head.  She circled around to his front.  “Open your mouth…stick out your tongue.”

Hanji sat down on the desk behind her and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Uh, can I put my clothes back on?” Eren asked.

“Yeah, go ahead.”  She waved a hand.  “You really don’t have a name written on you anywhere.  And you were able to act as a sacrifice for Levi, so it’s not like you don’t have any abilities.”

“Hanji, when did you and Petra get your names?”

“Names always appear on the fighter first, so I got mine when I was 10.  Petra got hers at 11 and that’s when they first had us meet.  I was so excited!  I mean, you try staring at your ribs for a year, wondering who’s waiting for you, too.”  She pulled a picture out of her wallet.  “See?  Weren’t we cute?”

Eren looked at the photo.  It was of a very young exuberant Hanji (with ears!) holding a very young and happy but unsure Petra in a big bear hug.  He smiled.  Yup, that was about right.

“Is that average?”  Eren asked.

“Yeah.  It happens most certainly before you become a teenager.”

Hanji paused.  “Well actually, some fighters are born without a name.  We call them blanks, and they can be matched to sacrifices who have no fighter for some reason.”  She chewed on her lip.  “Actually Levi was born blank.  That’s why he was put into the Infinity program.”

“So then, am I just a blank sacrifice?”

Hanji narrowed her eyes in thought.  “There’s no such thing as a blank sacrifice.  At least there’s no medical record for it.”

Eren suddenly felt inexplicably sad.  As soon as he knew that a true name belonged to two people, rather than one, he had kind of been hoping that maybe he could have that unbreakable bond with someone.  He was nameless; there was no fighter dreaming in the dark for him.

“Cheer up,” said Hanji.  “You could enter the Infinity program here if you wanted.  Levi doesn’t have a default sacrifice, and it might do him some good to have a new one.  Our other Infinity fighter and sacrifice were an already bonded pair who went into the Infinity program together.  We weren’t sure if we could rename a pair like that, but it was a success.  I believe they were originally called Speechless.”

There was another Infinity pair?  But weren’t all names supposed to be unique?

“I understand becoming an Infinity if you are blank, but why would anyone give up their name?”  Mikasa’s words played in his head over and over again.

Hanji smiled.  “Yeah, that’s a big sacrifice.  But the Infinity program was formed so that if someone was incapacitated during battle, an Infinity could stand in and take their place.  An Infinity could save a comrade’s life in certain situations.” 

“So they give up the name for the greater good.”  That made more sense to Eren.

Hanji continued.  “And also sometimes a pair can be formed with unique attributes, so it’s useful to have an Infinity as an alternative strategy.  Sometimes Levi will come on a mission with me and Petra, since Petra and Levi can fight while I do recon.  A connection with Petra also allows him to produce better defensive spells than he usually makes, simply due to Petra’s nature.”

Eren was finally dressed again. 

It was a lot to think about, but the Infinity program was something that sounded like it might be worth it.  He didn’t know much about being a sacrifice, let alone being an interchangeable one, but training could fix that.  These people were willing to protect him, and in turn, he was sure he could help them as well. 

And Levi…

If he became Levi’s, he didn’t know what to feel.  He was having a hard time reconciling the snarky man who picked him up at school with the man who kissed him against the tree and touched him so gently.

He whispered softly.  “What was Levi’s original sacrifice like?  Our enemy mentioned her…”

Hanji stopped him dead.  “That’s Levi’s story.  It’s not mine to tell.”  She scruffed up his hair.  “Now let’s go back to everyone in the kitchen.”

The two walked out of the room and back down the hallway.

“How’d it go?”  Petra laughed.  “You should have seen the look on your face when she dragged you into that room.”

“She told me that she’s a doctor,” said Eren.  “Is she actually a doctor?  Or was I just—”

Petra laughed.  “Oh she’s definitely a doctor.  She graduated med school a couple years ago.  She works here permanently as medical staff.”

Hanji pushed up her glasses.  “There’s not a mark on him, so I have no idea what that means.  I’m gonna suggest to Erwin that he go into the Infinity program if he’s willing.  We all could use a second Infinity sacrifice.”

Petra tapped a finger to her lips.  “Hmmm.  It might be good for Levi, too.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Hanji put her arm around Petra’s waist.  “It’s no fun to be alone.  And besides, he’s totally adorable.  I mean look at those big green eyes.”

Eren blushed.  “I’m sure he finds me quite useless right now.”

“Nah, we’ll train you.”  Petra waved it away.  “But you do need to make sure you keep up your connection with him.”

“My connection?”  Here it was again.

“Yeah, we saw it when we picked you guys up.  I haven’t seen a bond that thick coming from Levi in a long time.  You two have potential,” Petra smiled.

Suddenly, the grandfather clock in the hall struck midnight with loudly ringing bells.

“Shoot.  We’ve just kept talking and now it’s late.”  Petra quickly put away all of the foodstuffs.

“Yeah, and man am I tired!”  Hanji said as she stretched.

Eren scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do.  “Uh, where do I sleep?”

“Oh right.  You wouldn’t know.”

Petra took him to a hallway with doors that all had signs.  They read in order: Infinity, Dauntless, Peerless, Infinity, Relentless, Lawless, Restless, Bottomless.  When he read “Dauntless” his heart ached.  Maybe he could stay in his sister’s room…

Hanji yawned.  “Well, each fighter and sacrifice pair gets their own room so…”

Petra gave Hanji a suspicious look.  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Hanji?”

“Ma-ybe!”  She grinned

“Then you’re staying next door to us!” said Petra.

They opened the door that read Infinity in big block letters with an infinity symbol below it.  The room was dark but he could see what looked like an overly large comfortable looking bed, and every object in the room was neatly organized.  They pushed Eren inside.  This had to be Levi’s room.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Eren stammered.

“Aww, don’t be shy.  Just go ahead and lay down.  He’ll understand,” said Hanji.  “You’ve both had a rough day!”

Somehow Eren didn’t believe her, but he knew that neither Hanji nor Petra was going to let him out.  Eren thought about his predicament and found a perfect solution.  He could pretend to stay there for a little while, until Hanji and Petra had laid down and gone to sleep.  Then, since it was his sister’s room, he could go lie down in the Dauntless room and nobody would care.  She obviously wasn’t here.

Yes, that was the perfect idea!

“Okay,” he said.  “Good night, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Good night!” 

With that Eren shut the door.

He turned on the lamp by the bedside.  Everything was meticulously positioned, the closet had clothing that looked as if it were on a store display, and there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere.  No dirty clothes lying around.  Nothing.  It was immaculate.

Oh, but that bed…it looked like the most comfortable bed that he had ever seen.  He had to try it.  Eren took off his shirt and folded it neatly, as he felt very out of place throwing it on the floor.  He had dirt on his pants, too, so he took those off and folded them as well.  Then it was just him in his boxers and socks.  He crawled into the bed gingerly.  It felt just as heavenly as he had imagined it would.  He burrowed into the pillows and cocooned himself in the silky comforter. 

Quickly Eren turned out the light.  He pressed his ear to the wall, but Hanji was so loud, he could hear her through the wall without help anyways.

Time passed, and Eren became more and more at one with the bed.  Those two just never seemed to shut up.  He closed his eyes.  They’d go to sleep eventually. 

Despite his best intentions, the long day finally took its toll on Eren.  Within fifteen minutes, he was fast asleep in Levi’s bed.


	4. Sleepless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got the death cold and I'm on cold meds, so my head feels like it's floating and everything in the world is fucking hilarious to me right now. 
> 
> I'm pretty sure I got all the edits, but if I didn't, I'm sorry. I'm trying to commit to a Mon/Tue post and a Fri/Sat post every week.
> 
> Anyway, a little bit of tease in this chapter. Have fun!

Ch 4  Sleepless

Levi climbed the staircase to the highest floor.  There was a lone room labeled “Wall Maria” at the very end of the hall.  Erwin sat in his office with the lights turned out.

“You’ve made it,” he said.  “It’s a good thing you did.  The Jaegar family has always produced powerful sacrifices.  It would be a shame if he fell into the wrong hands.”

Levi shook his head.  “Brat doesn’t even know his name.  How good of a sacrifice is that?”

Erwin turned around to face Levi.

“When I found you, you didn’t have a name either, and look at you now.”  He sighed.  “If I wasn’t a fighter like you, I’d have gladly given you my name.”

Levi saw the name scrawled across the back of his hand.  “Endless” it read.  It was faded, more like a scar, but it was still there.  It had been a long time since he had fought.  His sacrifice had long since gone off to live his own life.  Only a special kind of person stayed on past youth.  Pairs that stayed together well into their upper twenties like Hanji and Petra were rare, or rather, if they stayed together, they stopped fighting for the organizations and usually raised families instead.

“You’re here much later than I anticipated.”  Erwin’s voice was full of concern.  “What happened?”

“We were ambushed,” Levi spat.  “The enemy had to have been tracking my movements from our side.  She followed me and set my fucking horse free.  She knew she had no chance of engaging us if we were on horseback, so she set up a trap in the forest.”

Erwin furrowed his brow.  “What makes you so sure she was tracking you from our side?”

Levi lowered his head.  “Intuition.  She was about the same age as the kid, and I don’t know what horny teenage boy needs to be convinced to go off all alone with an attractive friendly girl.  She could have easily picked him up elsewhere with less mess, but she used me as the trace to find him, risking battle in the process.”

Erwin nodded.  “I agree with your analysis.”  He folded his hands together.  “This is troubling.  Somehow information was leaked from our end to the enemy.”

“This time was a single fighter; she didn’t even have a damn sacrifice.  She went by the name Heartless.  Have you heard of her?”  Levi asked.  The memories of how she talked down to him made his skin crawl.

“No, we’ve never encountered the Heartless fighter.”  Erwin sighed.  “But Dauntless has reported getting into a battle with the Ruthless pair today as well.  I’m not sure if Heartless and Ruthless are working together, but I’m sure that we’ll know soon enough.”

“Them again?”  Levi’s eyes went wide.  “Fucking hell.  Are they okay?”

Erwin shook his head.  “The fighter is in a workable state of health, but her sacrifice, he was wounded badly before she could get him to safety.  I’m dispatching Peerless to their location tomorrow morning.”

“Shouldn’t we bring them here?”  Levi asked.

“No, it’s best if the younger fighters and sacrifices don’t know what’s going on out there,” said Erwin.  “They need to learn and do their best.”

“Understood.”  Levi frowned.  “There was one other thing I have to report.  After I hit the enemy with a full damage spell, instead of surrendering she conjured a…titan.”

“You mean—”

Levi shrugged.  “Yeah.  She pulled a fifteen meter tall skinless woman completely out of thin air.  If I hadn’t executed a banishment spell right then…well it looked like it was gonna eat me.”

Erwin looked pale.  “That’s similar to what was described by Dauntless.  That’s why the sacrifice…he was bitten.”

“Fuck.”  Levi rubbed his forehead.  “It seems like we’re gonna need something besides just spells.”

“I plan on speaking with Dot Pixis and Dallis Zacklay tomorrow to see what needs to be done.  It seems the situation is even worse that I thought,” said Erwin sharply.  “In the meantime, try and get some rest.”

Levi turned to head out the door.

“Oh, and Levi?”

“Yes?”

“Excellent job.”

Levi shut the door behind him, leaving Erwin in the dark.

xXx

“Son of a bitch…”  Annie cursed. 

The roof of the house was coming into view and her titan was hurtling towards it.  She tried to dissolve its form but it busted through the wooden roof with its head before finally disappearing.  The swirling air carried her through the hole that the titan had made and left her sprawled unceremoniously on the floor.

“Damn it!”  She hit the ground with her fist.

“It’s okay, Annie.  We didn’t need that roof anyway.”  A blond youth with the name Ruthless spelled down his arm started cracking up.

“Shut your face, Reiner!  I don’t see any members of Dauntless here tied up.” She bit back.  “They handed you your ass didn’t they.  Where’s Bertyl?  Is he bleeding to death in a corner somewhere since you can’t cover your own ass?”

Bertholdt walked down the steps from his resting place in the loft.  Unlike Annie, neither he nor Reiner had ears or a tail.  “I’m fine.  We almost had them, but they pulled an escape.  That fighter has a fast tongue.”

Reiner shrugged.  “My titan bit their sacrifice after it rammed him hard.  I thought for sure that it was a done deal.”

“Great.  So you’ve made the fighter that you’ve been playing cat-and-mouse with even angrier.  It’s only a matter of time before she finds this place and guts you in your sleep,” said Annie. 

“Pffft.  It seems like your run in with Infinity didn’t go so well either.  He used that lightning spell on you didn’t he?  He really likes that one.  Your hair is all funny,” Reiner teased.

“Tell me about it,” said Bertholdt.  “He’s not gentle if your shields are down.  Oh and he’s got this one spell that makes it feel like you’re being waterboarded.  He’s got a sick mind.  His words are pretty, but he himself?  He’s a thug!”

“I provoked him enough that he called battle first, so I figured that was fine since he couldn’t back out.”  Annie paced back and forth in front of Reiner and Bertholdt.  “But when I pulled out my titan, he threw a ridiculously powerful banishing spell on us, enough to lift the titan!  How was I supposed to know he could do that?”

Reiner and Bertholdt started laughing.  “Well, duh.  He’s Infinity.”

Bertholdt gently touched Annie’s shoulder.  “I’m inclined to agree with you that we need to move.  We can call boss tonight and tell him that Dauntless is sniffing around too close.”

“Thanks Bertyl.  It’s nice to know that only one of you is hardheaded.”

Bertholdt blushed.

“This coming from a woman without a heart.  How sweet.”  Reiner crooned.  “And anyway, who said you could use your titan!  We’re supposed to be keeping that under wraps.”

“Yeah, since _you_ followed that rule.”  Annie crossed her arms over her chest.  “I bet it was the same deal for both of us.  We thought we could use it and win.”

“I wonder what boss wants us to do now…” Bertholdt mused.  “You know the organization knows about the titans now.”

“Yeah, we’ll probably have to lay low for a little while,” said Reiner.  “Then we’ll come out in force.”

“Oh boy, oh boy,” said Annie.  “Trapped in a house with you two for a couple months…”

She fell into a fit of giggles as Reiner and Bertholdt came on either side of her and tickled her ribs.  For as much as Annie hated contact with other people, these two almost made her want to care.  Almost.

xXx

Levi was dead on his feet.  The clock had struck midnight over an hour ago, and only now had he gotten around to raiding the larder for something to eat.  In fact, standing up, he kind of swayed back and forth since he was so tired.

He made it down the hallway to where the bedrooms were.  No lights were on underneath the doors; everybody was asleep.  Even Hanji and Petra were sleeping, which he was thankful for, because the walls were thin and Hanji was loud and he now knew way more about either of them than he had ever wanted to know.  He was starting to suspect that Petra’s ears were fake.

Levi got to his door and pushed it open with his knee.  He didn’t even bother to turn on the lights when he closed the door; he was already pretty used to the dark from Erwin’s office.  He was so tired that he uncharacteristically let his clothing lay where it fell, his cloak tossed behind him, his shirt over a chair, his pants on the floor.  He traced over the infinity symbol that lay over his heart, feeling its familiar curves and then stretched. 

Levi slid into the bed and relaxed.  There was nothing better at the end of a hard day.  He rolled over and hugged the warm body that lay up against the wall.  He cradled it with one arm and burrowed his face into its neck.  The smell of the skin was slightly sweet. 

Warm body…  Slightly sweet…

Wait a minute.

Levi immediately rolled over and turned on his bedside lamp.  In his bed was Eren!

_Oh, no.  No way._

Levi shook the boy, which just made him shift into a different position.  He watched his chest rise and fall, a pure, peaceful look plastered on his sleeping face.

_Damn it!_

He shook him harder.  “Hey.  Hey you.”

Eventually Eren woke.  Levi was taken aback by the bright green eyes that opened sleepily. 

“Levi,” he said dreamily.  He touched Levi’s chest.  Levi shivered.  “So that’s where your mark is.  If I become an Infinity, will mine be in the same place?”

Become an Infinity?  What on earth had Hanji been feeding him?  He must have a name with someone waiting for him.  He was a sacrifice after all.  He could even get a blank fighter and put his name on it.

Eren was now starting to become a bit more lucid.  He blinked at Levi.  “I’m in your bed, aren’t I?”  He said with some confusion on his face.  “Oh god.  I was just…”

Levi glared at him.  “What the hell are you doing in my bed, brat?”

Eren sat up.  “You see Hanji and Petra told me to stay the night in here.  I was waiting for them to fall asleep so that I could leave and use my sister’s room.”

“So you took off your fucking clothes and got in my goddamn bed?”

The look Eren gave him was tooth rottingly innocent.  “It looked really comfortable, sir.”

Levi hid his head in his hands. 

“Hanji and Petra, huh?  None of this was your idea?”

“Well, I did want to keep our connection.”

Levi shook his head.  “There’s more to building a connection than just making out.  I had to join with you out of necessity today.  Besides, it was a onetime thing.  I was just doing my job.”

Eren blushed.  “Well, even still, I’d like to stay connected.  I was hoping to just maybe sleep next to you…like how Mikasa slept next to me when I was little.  Or if that’s too sudden, I can make a bed on the floor.”

Now Levi was stumped.  Eren was a teenager, but he wasn’t so horny that he was trying to jump his bones after making out with him today.  He said that he had planned on leaving to stay in his sister’s room, but was now offering to make himself a nest on the floor just to be in his presence.  And Hanji and Petra were mixed up in this, the damn harpies…oh this was a mess.

 Eren continued, “Hanji said that she’s going to tell Erwin to put me in the Infinity program since I don’t have a name.”

“But—”

Eren shook his head.  “Trust me, Hanji did a strip search.”

“I see.”

There it was again.  The Infinity program.  Of all things, why Infinity?

Levi cleared his throat.  “And what makes you think that the top brass will accept a brat like you as my partner?  They’re more likely to bond you to some other fighter.  And even if you do get bonded to me, you’ll be switched around into other pairs anyway.  The name Infinity isn’t _special_.”

“I don’t know,” said Eren.  “I don’t know what’s going on with me, with you, with this place, with fighters and sacrifices and all this other shit.  But I do know I have to be stronger, and fight.”

“Hmmm.”  Levi reached out and touched Eren’s cheek.  He traced up through his hair and over his cat ears again.  Eren closed his eyes and gasped.

“Do you really want this, or are you just looking for an easy excuse to lose your ears?” Levi said accusingly.  “You have no idea what I am.”

Eren slapped back his hand.

“You’re right, I don’t know what you are.  Everybody here knows a hell of a lot about you, but nobody will say anything to me.  They say I have to get it from you yourself,” Eren stared back at him.  “So give me something!”

“And if you don’t like it?” 

“It doesn’t matter.  It’s you.”

“ _It doesn’t matter.  It’s you_ ,” Levi repeated mockingly.  “Don’t give me that pansy ass bullshit.” 

Levi glared at him flatly.  “My last sacrifice ended up dead because of me.  Are you okay with that?  Don’t you just want to sign right up into the Infinity program?”

Silence filled the room.  “I’m sorry,” said Eren softly.  “I had no idea.”

“I let our shields drop without refreshing them and she got hit with a ton of restraints.  When I asked her, she told me she was fine, but she wasn’t.  She suffocated to death while I just kept on spouting out stupid magic words to the enemy, attacking rather than defending or freeing some of her bonds.”

“That was 7 years ago.”  Levi leaned back against the wall.  “Why the fuck am I telling you this!?”

“It’s not your fault.”  Eren said.

“Sure it is.  I didn’t maintain my damn connection with her as strongly as I should have, and in the end, that was it.”  Levi said without any emotion.  “I couldn’t feel her pain.  It’s not like we were born under the same name anyway.  Not like the other pairs.”

He continued.  “Bonds are easy to form but hard to hold.  It’s one of the defects in the Infinity name.  It was fixed in theory when Speechless was overwritten; their underlying bond wasn’t destroyed in the process.  But good for them, it doesn’t fix me.”

“Levi…”

“In the end I’m just a blank fighter with a broken name and it sounds like you’re a fucking unicorn.  Now, did any of that make it through your thick skull?”

“Yeah, everything makes sense.”

“Good.”  Levi sighed with relief.

“Now I understand why Hanji and Petra threw me in here tonight.”  A small smile crossed Eren’s lips.

“No, that’s not what I meant!”  Levi barked.

“Keep a connection with me.  I may not know anything right now, but that will change.”  Eren’s eyes burned with fire.  “I’ll train as an Infinity.  I’ll eat with you.  I’ll sleep with you. I’ll share my heart, my body, my mind, and my soul. I’ll become as strong as possible, and one day I’ll be your equal.”

Levi’s heart caught in his chest.  He had doubts of whether Eren could be his match, but the look in his eyes right now made him want to do nothing but sit by his side.  And in his words was the commanding strength found behind the voice of any true sacrifice…  He looked away.

“If this doesn’t work out, it’s your fault.  I gave you the warnings and you were too stupid to care,” Levi muttered.  This wasn’t happening, was it?

“So I can stay?”  Eren’s ears perked up.

“I don’t even know why the hell you’d want this.  Your life is probably so fucked up right now that you’re just grabbing on to the first person you can find.  And plus, I’m older than you…by a lot.”  Levi looked at him sideways.

“Who cares?  If we work, then we work,” said Eren adamantly. 

“Fine.”  Levi said.  “Stay here.” 

Eren grinned.  Levi eyed him suspiciously, not really believing what he was doing or what was happening.

He smacked Eren lightly across the chest.  “Don’t be so cheeky about it.  Now lay on your side.”

Levi turned off the light and slid in behind Eren.  He ran a hand over his chest, tracing his collarbones.

“So then we’re not going to sleep?” Asked Eren.

“You’re an idiot,” hissed Levi. 

Levi continued running his hand down Eren’s chest and kissed the back of his neck.  He kissed all along the back, all along the side before sucking on an earlobe.  Eren continued to make quiet guttural noises as Levi played with his hair.  He kissed the underside of Eren’s jaw.

“Are you going to take my ears?” Eren asked breathlessly.

“Tch!”  Levi pulled back.  “You’re still in fucking high school!  And I’m not kidding when I say that I’m a lot older than you.”

“There are plenty of people in my school that have no ears, some younger than me. And, I’m legal, so what does age matter once I reach 18?”  Eren lashed his tail over Levi’s thigh.

Levi sighed.  “Brat, I just met you today and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it was your first time when I kissed you in the woods.”

Eren was glad that the lights were off and nobody could see his beet red face.  “Was I really that bad?”

“You weren’t bad.  It was just clear you had no fucking clue what you were doing.” Levi laughed.  “It was sweet how hard you tried in the end.”

“Oh.”  Eren frowned.  “Because that makes me feel better.”

Levi curved back into him.  “Some pairs are born as siblings or cousins.  Some pairs are born as good friends.  As an Infinity, I only understand how to bond this way.”

Eren reached up and grabbed the hand that was pressed against his chest. 

“It doesn’t bother me, if that’s what you’re nervous about.  My sister has her own name, and I’ve never been any good at making friends.”  Eren paused.  “We don’t have to be anything; we can just be fighter and sacrifice.”

_Just be fighter and sacrifice…_   Levi rested his head against Eren’s shoulder.  Why did this kid always know what to say?

“Hey, Levi,” called Eren.

“What do you want now?”  Levi sighed.

“Can I touch you?”

Levi froze.  “Uh…sure.”

Eren rolled over so he was now facing Levi.

“Lay flat.  Close your eyes,” Eren whispered.

Levi was apprehensive, but he complied.  He could tell Eren was nervous; his touch was cold as he drew the infinity symbol on his chest with his index finger.  Eren ran his fingertips up along the side of his neck, and rested his palm on his cheek.  Gently, he brushed a thumb over Levi’s lips.  He traced over an eyebrow and furrowed his fingers deep into Levi’s hair, stroking through it.  The hand moved back to his chest again, sliding down his sternum. It went lower over the curves of his abs, tracing across the cut of his hipbone.  He reached under Levi at the small of his back then slid up his ribcage.  Finally he slipped his hand down the underside of Levi’s arm, intertwining their fingers when he reached Levi’s hand.

Everywhere that Eren touched was burning.  Levi took deep breaths; he knew how to handle this.  Eren was exploring someone for the first time.  But what shocked Levi more was the fact that _he_ was being the first man that someone had ever touched intimately.  This jaded, bitter man would be someone’s first love, no matter how hard he had tried to warn him off.

“Levi,” said Eren.  “Where do you want to be kissed?”

Again, Levi was at a loss for words.  Eren was asking the most innocent questions and it just made him feel like a dirty, dirty pervert.

“Damn it, Eren.”

Eren immediately withdrew his hands.  “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, get back here.  That was a ‘good’ damn it.”  He pulled Eren over on him.  “Now kiss me everywhere you just touched.”

He felt Eren shift his weight so that he was on all fours over him.  He smiled at the tentative lips that kissed at his collarbone.  The light trail leading up his neck made Levi groan softly.  Now it was three soft kisses, his browbone, his cheekbone, and finally he settled at his lips.  Levi reached back with his own mouth and caught Eren’s lower lip.  He sucked on it and let it go with a slight pop.  He smiled at the startled little noise Eren made. 

He had forgotten this part; Levi felt the lips return to his chest and they went down, down, down.

“Don’t go any further or—“

“I know,” said Eren.  He laughed.  “You only met me tonight,” he said in a mocking tone.  “And you’re way, way older than me.”  He kissed the hipbone that jutted out from the muscular body.

“Watch it, brat.”

Eren kissed his waist and he went up the side of his ribs.  He moved on to the inside of his bicep, the underside of his forearm.  Finally, he kissed the palm of Levi’s hand so gently that he barely felt it touch.

Levi opened his eyes.

“Did that feel good for you?”  Eren asked, wide-eyed.  “Everything you do to me feels good…so yeah.”

Levi held Eren’s face in his hands.  “You’re playing with fire.”  He pulled Eren in and kissed him deeply, languishing in his taste.

He let go and fluffed up his pillow.  “I don’t even want to know what time it is, but we should be sleeping, not doing…whatever the fuck this is!  It’s probably past two by now.”

“So, can you come to bed earlier tomorrow?” asked Eren as he settled down into his side of the bed.

“Maybe,” said Levi.  “Depends on what shit they have me doing.”

Levi settled in behind Eren, his forehead in the crook of his neck.  Within minutes Eren was back to sleep, but Levi lay there awake.

A new sacrifice, one made just for him…  Only now did it sink into Levi how terrified he was.


	5. Hapless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all of the kudos and comments! You guys are great! This story is a joy to work on.
> 
> I've also taken some liberties about the Loveless world. After I double checked with wikis, I know that there are spells that can be performed outside of battle, but we don't know many or much about them. So in my world, healing spells fall among the list of spells that can be performed outside of a battle. But, it's a property of a name. In this universe, only the name Peerless has the ability to perform healing spells.
> 
> Sorry for that aside and screwing with somebody else's universe. Enjoy the story.

Ch 5:  Hapless

When Levi woke up, the sun was already bright and high in the sky.  Shit.  He could have sworn that he had set an alarm…  He looked over at the clock that now had a piece of paper over it.

_Thought that you could use the extra sleep – P_

P.  P for Peerless.  As if Levi wasn’t mad enough at those she-devils.

“Hey!  Brat!  Get up!”  Levi shook Eren.  “Damn perverts turned off our alarm clock.”

“Huh?” said Eren as he stretched and yawned at the same time.

Levi threw the note at him.  “It’s almost noon!”

“How did they get in here?” Eren wondered as he pulled himself out of bed.

“Locking a door is pointless with Hanji around.  Me too, for that matter,” Levi answered as he opened his closet door.

“Why do you know how to pick locks?”

“Brat, I’ve already told you, I’ve got a lot of history.  Not all of it’s nice.  No, a lot of it’s not nice.  If just picking locks trips you up, you should probably leave me alone,” he growled. 

Eren came up behind him and threw his arms around him.  Eren’s tail wrapped around them both.  “Promise me that one day, I’ll know everything about you.”

What was with this kid? 

Levi sighed.  “I just met you yesterday.  This is the problem with teens, and first relationships and all this other shit I don’t need.  We’ll learn about each other as the moments happen.  Like what happened just now.”

The hug around him grew even tighter.  Levi rolled he eyes.  “Don’t you dare go mooning over me with that _oh, he’s just a brooding soul_ bullshit,” Levi bit.

Eren rested his cheek against Levi’s head.  “Actually, I was just thinking how much I like your honesty.”

“Oh.”  This was the first time in a while that Levi had felt stupid.  “Uh…thanks.”

Shaking free of Eren, he pulled a shirt off of a hanger and put it on.

“Levi?  My clothes from yesterday are dirty from all that climbing around we did.  Do you guys keep spare clothing or something like that, here?” asked Eren.

Right.  Petra usually took care of that kind of stuff, but she and Hanji were probably with Dauntless at the moment.

“Uh…we don’t, but let me think.”  Levi circled around Eren.  “You look like you’re just a little shorter than Jean and about the same weight.  Just borrow something from him.”

Levi finished dressing.  “Here, I’ll take you to his room.”

“Levi, are you sure this is okay?”  Eren surveyed the surroundings making sure nobody was seeing Levi dragging him down the hallway in his underwear.  “Shouldn’t we ask first?”

“He’s the other Infinity fighter and you’re gonna get to know him really well in training.  If he has a problem, he can take it up with me.  I don’t give a fuck.”

“Wait, I won’t be with you?”  Eren asked, confused.

“Why the fuck would I be in training?  I graduated before you were even…”  Levi stopped.  That wasn’t going to help here.  “We’ll find time to tune our bond.  You need the basics first, and practicing with the other Infinity pair will help.”

Levi pushed into the room at the start of the hallway.  Inside, the room was a lot messier than his own, and it took a great amount of energy for him to just ignore the dust bunnies under the night stands.  He opened a closet.

“These are Marco’s…and so are these.  Where the hell...  Ok, these are Jean’s.”  Levi tossed a pair of pants and a cotton shirt.

Eren put everything on.  The shoulders on the shirt were a little broad, and the hem of his pants touched the floor, but for the most part, it was a good fit.

“You’ll need to talk to Petra when she gets back and give her your sizes,” said Levi.

“Can’t we just grab some stuff from my house?” Eren asked.  “And what are we going to do about my mother?”  He furrowed his brow.  “Say…what have guys you done with Mikasa’s missing person status all this time?”

Levi shook his head.  “There’s no way in hell Erwin would let me take you back to your house.”  He shut the closet door.  “And as for Mikasa, and now you too, we have an agreement with law enforcement about ’missing people’.”

“Oh.  So we’re classified or something?”

“Yeah.  Something like that.”  Levi stretched.  “Spellcasters and the law have an uneasy peace.  We gotta be careful with what we do.”

That made sense to Eren.  If the general public knew of the existence of things like he had seen last night, there would be pandemonium.  The administrators probably could give him a better picture of where The Three Walls stood in the world, but most of this he doubted that they’d tell a lowly trainee.  Levi seemed to know a lot, anyway, so if there was something Eren wanted to know, he’d just ask him.

“C’mon, brat.  Let’s get outta here.”  Levi led Eren out of the room.  “I’ve got work to do, and you’re late for your first day of training.”

Eren flattened his ears.  If Levi was going to just drop him to see if he could swim, this was going to be a long day.  But at least now he could finally learn about what it was to be a sacrifice.

xXx

Mikasa sat in the middle of the makeshift nest.  Her body ached as she hadn’t slept at all; she’d remained by his side, hunched over, caring for her sacrifice.  She had called Erwin, so soon help would arrive, but until then, it was all up to her. 

The organization had several outposts set up in secret locations, and she had teleported to the one farthest from where she had been battling.  If a pair needed to escape, it was usually because one member was badly injured, and these outposts were stocked to the brim with medical materials.  But even still, Mikasa did her best to quiet her fears of losing him.

“Armin,” she said.  “Armin, are you still with me?”

Armin stirred but he didn’t make a sound.  Slowly, he opened his bleary eyes, trying to focus on the person beside him.

“Armin?”  She repeated.  She wiped his brow with a wet washcloth.

“Mikasa,” he whispered.  “I’m…I’m still…alive?”  A tear slowly began to trickle down the side of his cheek.  Mikasa wiped it away.

She smiled at him gently.  “Of course you’re alive.  You’d never leave me here alone; you’re my sacrifice.”  She ran a hand through his hair and stroked his golden furred ears.  He closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth flowing through their bond.

Mikasa moved to kneel behind him.  “This is going to hurt, but I need you to sit up on me.  I’ll help you move.”

She reached under Armin, hooking her hands under his arms.  The sheets below him were clammy with his sweat.  Armin cried out as she lifted him up, and she quickly settled him so that his torso was on the incline of her knees, his head against her stomach.  She reached for a cup of water.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, so even though I got it to stop, you need to drink a lot of fluids.”  She held the cup in front of him.  “Can you hold this?”

Armin tried to reach for it.  “I’m sorry Mikasa, it hurts too much.  Maybe if you put me—”

“Don’t worry about it.  Just drink.”  She carefully held the cup to his lips.  Her long black tail curled around them both.

Mikasa frowned.  From here she could see the damage better.  The titan had come at him from the side and bit him after colliding with him.  His left arm was broken in two places, or rather, crushed from the arc of teeth.  She didn’t even want to know how many of his ribs were broken; how much pain a simple breath must be.  His skin was bruised heavily, front and back.  She wanted to do nothing but hold him tight and comfort him, but she knew that with his injuries, that would be a terrible idea.

What had Ruthless been trying to accomplish with this?  She knew they wanted information; she knew they wanted Eren.  Like hell she was going to give him up.

“Mikasa, I drank it all.” 

Mikasa was jolted out of her thoughts.  She set the cup down and began playing with his hair again, something she knew felt good and wouldn’t hurt him.  He smiled and closed his eyes.

Eren. 

She had heard that Erwin had dispatched Levi to get him.  Levi was Erwin’s favorite, so that was no surprise.  But she had wanted to be the one to get her brother; she had told this to Erwin when she’d recovered the information.  But, he left her on recon anyhow.  There was no sense in getting bitter, but if she’d been the one to get Eren, she wouldn’t have fought Ruthless.  And if she hadn’t fought Ruthless, she wouldn’t be worrying over whether her best friend would live or die.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” she called.

“So sorry we couldn’t come any earlier!”  The door opened and Hanji strode in.  Her eyes landed on Armin.  “Oooh!  Look at those teeth marks!”  She sat down at Armin’s side.  “You look like you’ve been through hell!  Lemme look at you!”

Petra came in after her, a calm contrast to Hanji’s frenzied demeanor.

Mikasa gently laid Armin down and left him to Hanji’s examinations.  She poured herself a cup of water and walked towards Petra.  It was difficult, but she needed to remember to take care of herself, too.

Petra gently touched her shoulder.  “I know Armin’s the one with the broken…everything.  But you, are you okay?”

“Not really, but I’ll be okay.”  She smiled.  “You guys are here to fix him up.”

“That we are.”  Petra pondered the injuries she could see from where she stood.

“Is Eren okay?” Mikasa said it with a little more intensity than she meant to.

“Yeah, he’s fine.  Hanji and I took care of him last night after he arrived.”  She smiled.  “He even went into battle with Levi!”

“What?”  Mikasa was not pleased.  “Why was he fighting?  He’s not trained!  And we all know Levi’s issues!”

“Whoa, calm down,” Petra said firmly.  “The two of them walked into an ambush on their way home.  If Levi hadn’t fought, Eren would be gone.  And if Eren hadn’t forged a bond with Levi, Levi’s spell strength would have been halved.”

Mikasa’s ears flattened back.  “I know, but I should have been the one to go get him.  He’s my brother.  Armin and I could have handled whoever set up the trap and then Eren wouldn’t have had to fight at all.”

Petra smiled.  “He really is your weak point, isn’t he?”

“I haven’t seen him in two years.  I’m a terrible sister.”  Mikasa looked down.  “And I’m sure the more he learns about me, the more confused he’ll be.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Petra.  “He’s remarkably adaptable.  He’s fascinated with what’s going on.  He wants to know about being a good sacrifice.  I think that part of it may be that he just wants to be closer to you, and this is your world.”

“I was going to tell him everything when he found out his name.”  Mikasa pushed her jeans down a little to show the ‘Dauntless’ that was printed between her hipbones.  “I wonder what it is.  Did he tell you, Petra?”

“He doesn’t have one!” yelled Hanji.  “I checked!” she said as she fell into a fit of giggles.

Petra covered her face in her hands.  “Yeah, as far as he and Hanji could figure out, there’s not a mark on him.”

“I want to come in and see him,” Mikasa said.  “Armin would be better taken care of in the infirmary facilities anyway.”

“You can try but I don’t know if Erwin will let you.  I mean, that’s why we were sent here.  He doesn’t want what happened to Armin to frighten any of the student fighters and sacrifices.”  Petra breathed.  “I mean, we’re all a little shaken.  Frankly, it could have been _me_ if Hanji and I were patrolling.  Or Nanaba, or Erd.”

“So who else knows?” Mikasa asked.

“I think just Mike and Nanaba.  Erd and Gunter haven’t come back yet from their last mission, and after everything else that’s happened, I hope they’re okay,” Petra said.

“Petra!  I need you for healing spells!”  Hanji yelled.

Petra twitched her ears.  “I’m just standing a few feet away from you, jeez!”  She walked over to her partner, tail swishing side to side.

“We’re gonna set the bones in your arm, okay?” Hanji reassured Armin with a pat on the head.  “Now on the count of three!  One, two!”

Crack!  Armin yelled as the bone was set back into place.

“Three!” continued Hanji, happily.

“That wasn’t on three.”  Mikasa said flatly.

“It hurts more when you’re expecting it,” said Hanji with a grin.  “So I did him a favor.”

She set the fractured bones above his wrist as well.

“Most of his ribs are fractured or cracked.  Nothing’s punctured a lung though, so we got lucky.  He’s got whiplash and a mild concussion from hitting the ground.  He has a pelvic fracture, too, but I don’t see many signs of internal bleeding, so we may be safe there.”

Hanji looked at Mikasa out of the corner of her eye.  “As grizzly as this was, it was done very carefully.  By all accounts, Armin should actually be hurt a lot worse, and while the injuries are many, since you stopped the bleeding, there was nothing truly life threatening.  Ruthless was trying to take you in.”

Hanji played with a pencil that was in her pocket.  “What would Ruthless want with you?”

“Eren?”

“No.  Some fighter called Heartless came out to pick him up.”  Hanji’s gaze narrowed.  “If I were you, I’d be extra careful about what you do.  Levi and Erwin think there’s someone on our side feeding the enemies information, and I agree with him.  We are getting some calls that are too close for comfort.”

Hanji sighed.  “Ok Petra, let’s do this.”

“Healing space activated,” said Hanji.  Green light surrounded them. “Mend what is broken, turn the liquid into solid, fill the cracks with liquid mortar.”

Armin whimpered as he spell seeped into his skin. 

“Air flows freely from one container to the next, circular, eternal.  The pain is transferred by half.”

Petra sunk down to her knees, clutching her chest.

Armin looked up weakly.  “No, you don’t have to—“

Petra grabbed his hand and shook her head.  “I’m fine, Armin.  It’s okay.”

“Water of life, spring from your red cave, the shadow of the bone, replenish what was taken.”

Hanji pressed gently where the fractures were and smiled at the result.  “Healing space terminate.”

Petra shakily stood up and leaned against Hanji.  Hanji ran her hands through Petra’s hair and kissed her gently.

“I’ve been able to heal his bones for the most part.  The connections will be a little weak, but in two weeks, it will be like nothing happened.  Make sure he drinks a lot, and make sure he eats a lot of red meat so that his blood cell levels will be restored in a few days.”  Hanji sighed.  “The hard part is the soft tissue damage, all of the bruising.  I can prescribe him some heavy pain meds, and if Petra and I need to do a second pain transfer for him in a week, Petra should be fully recovered and able to do one.”

“So how long are we talking until I can come back?”  Mikasa said dully.

“2-3 weeks, but once he can move around on his own and not be in too much pain, I don’t see why you couldn’t convince Erwin that Armin can come home,” Hanji chirped.  “Don’t worry, I’ll work on him too.  …or Oh!  Maybe I could get Levi to convince him.”

“I doubt Levi would do that.  We’ve never really gotten along,” Mikasa mumbled.

“We have our ways, don’t we Petra?”  Both women grabbed each other’s hands.  Mikasa was very lost, and she was almost certain that she didn’t want to know.

“Fine, I don’t care how you do it.  I’ll take care of Armin the best I can in the meantime.  And please prescribe him something strong.”

“Sure, I’ll be back in an hour or so with the meds.  We’ll see you later.”  Mikasa waved at Hanji and Petra as they left.

Mikasa returned to Armin’s side and poured him another cup of water.  She settled him up on her lap again.  This time, he could hold the cup and drink from it himself.  Mikasa felt instantly relieved.  Sure, Armin still had a lot of healing to do, but that helpless feeling that threatened to paralyze her earlier was gone.

“There’s…something fishy going on,” Armin said.

“What do you mean?”  Mikasa trusted Armin’s intuitions with all her heart.

“Umm…Eren doesn’t have a name, right?”

“That’s what Hanji said,” she confirmed. 

Armin continued to think.  “And he’s going to start training at the school.”

Mikasa remembered Petra’s words.  “He wants to learn how to be a good sacrifice, yes.”

Armin paused for a moment.  He searched Mikasa’s face for understanding, but she clearly was not putting the same facts together.

“Then what fighter is he paired to?”  He said softly.

“I’m sure he’ll just practice with Jean and Marco since they’re students and Infinity series, that way, when his name finally shows up, he’ll be ready for his fighter,” Mikasa stated matter of fact.  “It’s only a matter of time until the name comes; I mean he is legally an adult.”

A stunned expression crossed Armin’s face.  The most obvious possibility to explain Hanji and Petra’s comments tonight was completely absent from her mind.

“What?  Did I say something weird?”  She asked.

“No, you’re probably right.  That sounds perfect for Eren,” he said smiling.

Two to three weeks of healing, Hanji said.  When they returned to The Three Walls, Armin had a feeling that life was going to be interesting being bonded to Mikasa.  It was probably best not to say anything now.

xXx

Eren wandered the halls of the building, but he clearly had no idea where he was going, where people were in general, or if there was some sort of master schedule somewhere that nobody bothered to tell him about.

He managed to make it back to the kitchen where he had started out last night.  He made himself a quick lunch out of what he could find, making a note of everything in the pantry and fridge.  Eren’s ears went flat.  He felt the way he did when he was cutting class, and it was really gnawing at him.  Levi was no help.  He did give him a kiss goodbye that made his hair stand on end, but he just went out a side door and…left.  He sighed.

Eren resumed his search for life, and he was amazed at the sheer number of rooms this place had.  He had found a ballroom decked out with crystals and finery, several rooms with unmarked doors, a greenhouse, and a giant relaxation room with a pool table, TV, and several games.  Still, none of them had people.

Suddenly he heard voices.

“I can’t believe we were sent after the damn horse.  You and your nose.”

“Well you know Levi wouldn’t be arsed to get it.  Ah, besides, it was a nice morning ride.  I wish all missions were that easy, and with the rumors, so should you.”

Who did Levi say that they would have sent?  Mike and someone else whose name was harder to remember…

Eren stepped out into what looked to be a very elaborate foyer, filled with columns and mirrors.  He poked his head out from behind the pillar to see one man who was roughly the same age as Hanji and Petra and another man who looked to be in his early to mid twenties.  Neither of them had ears.

“Who do we have here?”  The man laughed.  “I can see a twitching tail.”

“I’m Eren Jaeger.  I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I think you were sent after the horse I was supposed to ride.”

“Yes, indeed.”  He walked up to Eren, who was amazed at his towering height.  He was well over six foot.  Then he bent down and sniffed Eren’s hair.

“And you are?” Eren said, unsure of what to do at the human being that was greeting him with his nose.

“He’s Mike.  I’m Nanaba, his sacrifice,” the shorter blond man pulled Mike away from Eren.  Mike looked back at Nanaba surprised but then he continued, “We’re Restless, two minds never finding solace in complacency.”

Eren could see the name written at the front of Mike’s neck, through his shirt that hung open a bit.  Eren’s heart ached; he wanted a name so badly, first when he had seen it on Hanji and Petra, and now this.

“Shouldn’t you be in class or something?” said Nanaba.

“Well, I’m not sure where or what class is,” Eren said, his ears flattening in embarrassment.  “I mean, it is my first day and Peerless snuck into my room and turned off the alarm clock, so I didn’t get out of my bedroom until noon…”

Mike burst into laughter.  “They’re already pranking you?  Don’t worry, I’ll take you around to find your class.”

“See you later,” said Nanaba.  “I’m sure you’ll like it here.”

“Thanks!”  Eren waved as Nanaba left.

Mike put his gigantic hand on Eren’s shoulder.  “Let’s go!”

Eren was both amused and horrified with the way the Mike “tracked” down the classes, giving tentative sniffs in each direction before barreling forward.  He led Eren up a staircase, through a myriad of hallways and then finally to a room where he could hear a man talking in a rather soothing voice.

“You must be sure to project your voice correctly.  Your power does not come from your chest or your throat; strength comes from your diaphragm.”  A blond man in his mid-thirties sat at the front of the room. 

He continued.  “When you lose your temper and yell, the constrictions in your throat disrupt the flow of air and your spell loses power.  Above all things, in battle, keep yourself as calm as possible.  Even if your enemy is taunting you, stay cool.   Even if your sacrifice is in unspeakable pain, remember that they are shouldering that pain so that you can win—do not let them down.”

“Uh excuse me, Erwin?” said Mike.  All eyes turned around to focus on Eren.  Right now, he very much wanted to curl up and hide.

“Hello Mike.  Is there something you need?”

Mike smiled.  “This little guy got pranked by Peerless and now has no idea where he should go for class.  I’ve been trying to help him, but it looks like it’s all fighters in here.”

“I see.”  Erwin stood up.  “Eren Jaeger, I am Erwin Smith.  Nice to meet you.  I look forward to a more personal meeting later.”

“Yes, thank you, sir.”

“Peerless is on a mission today, so I am filling in for Hanji’s fighter class.  Petra usually teaches the sacrifices right now, but we don’t have any sacrifice graduates free.  Unless, is Nanaba around?” he asked Mike.

Mike shook his head.  “He might be later, but not now.”

“Well, in that case, all of the other sacrifices are in the library doing readings on battle mechanics.  Will you show him there, Mike?”  Erwin smiled.

“Hey!” called a voice.  “Wait just a minute!” it said, exasperated. 

“Jean, do you have something to say?” asked Erwin calmly.

_Jean._  

Eren felt all of the color drain from his face, and he stared startled into the eyes of a fighter sitting in the first row of chairs.  His tail instinctively poofed.

“That’s my shirt!”  He yelled.  “And are those my pants!?”

The classroom of students started laughing.  The unavoidable immature joke of _Eren got in Jean’s pants_ was circulating from person to person.

“Uh, yeah, these are yours.”  Eren wanted to die.  “Levi gave them to me and said it’d be okay.”

“Wait, Levi went rummaging through my stuff?  And why was he getting you dressed—wait I don’t want to know.”  Jean buried his face in his hands.  “If I’d have remembered to lock my door, he’d have busted the lock anyway.”

“He said we were about the same size, so it’d fit.  But…you’re a little taller,” Eren offered in consolation.

“Just,” much of Jean’s original fire was gone.  “Just be sure to wash them before you give them back.  Or actually, make Levi do it.”

Erwin stifled a laugh.  “I’ll make sure he does it.”

Now Eren was really confused.

“Thanks, Erwin.  I’ll get him to where he’s supposed to be,” said Mike.

And with that Eren was steered out of the room, practically carried by the much larger man.  They walked down hallways and through rooms until they reached an old elaborately carved library that looked like something out of a film.  He hoped this introduction to the sacrifices was better than his meeting with the fighters.


	6. Guileless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter very much explores my headcanon about bonding in Loveless, since we see pairs that are lovers, siblings, friends, etc. There is no one type of bond and every one is beautiful in its own way, even when it's tragic. It's one thing that I've always admired about that series--It's about love in all its forms, even when it's toxic and painful. Hopefully it puts a bit more insight into some of the pairs that I picked/are possible/will be possible. 
> 
> And appreciate the fact that my NoTP wrote itself into my own fic. WTF self.

Ch 6:  Guileless

Eren entered the library with Mike still pushing at his back.  He saw three other people scattered around the room, each reading a book.  He looked at Mike who gestured towards everyone.  Eren hated breaking the silence in a library, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Hello everybody, sorry I missed this morning, but I’m new here…”  Oh this was painful.

A boy with a buzz cut looked up.  “Oh, it’s you!  Sasha told me she saw you last night in the kitchens after dinner!”

A small girl with blonde hair put her book down.  “Yeah, we all knew you were here, but we didn’t know where to find you this morning.  Do you have a special room somewhere?”

“Oh right, Sasha said she heard you don’t have a fighter, so it would make sense if you weren’t on our floor.  I mean Aururo’s not and he has no sacrifice.”

A taller boy looked at him with an amused expression.  “Are you wearing Jean’s clothes?”

Eren’s tail poofed out again.  He looked back for Mike but found that he had already left.  The man was silent as a panther.

The tall boy looked at Eren’s tail.  “Whoa!  I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.  I only thought it was funny.”  He got up and extended a hand to Eren.  “I just recognized them because I’m Marco, Jean’s sacrifice.  We’re—“

“Infinity!” Eren shouted.  “Power streaming from a realm of infinite possibilities.”

Marco laughed.  “No, that’s not us.”

“Huh?”  Eren was confused.

Marco shook his head.  “Infinity, a quantity of power knowing no limits and no end.”  He slid his sleeve up to show an infinity symbol stamped across his bicep.

“Oh, so what I said was…”

“Yeah, you said the incantation associated with Levi’s name.  We might be Infinity types, but even in Infinity, each pair remains unique,” said Marco.  He twitched his tail.  “So how do you even know his anyway?  Levi’s not much for talking.”

The image of the titan reaching towards Levi flashed through his mind.  Levi never said as much, but he had a feeling that the titan shouldn’t be mentioned to anyone he wasn’t sure about.  Did the students know?  He better not.

“We had a quick battle in the forest.  It was just some crazy lone fighter who had untethered Levi’s horse.  Anyway, by the time that was sorted out, the horse was long gone and we had to walk all the way home because of it,” said Eren.  “It’s why I got here so late.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”  Said the boy with the buzz cut.  “I’m Connie, by the way.  I know you met Sasha yesterday because she wouldn’t shut up about watching you eat the sandwich Petra made you.”

“I know your name is Bottomless, but you don’t seem to be as…”  Eren trailed off.

“Yeah, I know.  My fighter has a bit of a one-track mind, but in a way, it makes her easier to work with, I think.”  Connie scratched his grey colored ears.  “It’s important to know your fighter’s mind so that you can save them from themselves.”

Save them from themselves?  Eren pondered Connie’s words.  What did Levi need to be saved from?

The blonde girl finally got up to join them.  “My name is Christa.  You probably haven’t had the chance to meet my fighter yet.  Ymir is warmer than she acts; don't let her fool you.  Our name is Lawless.”

“I stumbled into the fighter class earlier, but I didn’t get to be introduced to anyone.”  Eren looked at his clothes.  “Well, I met Jean and he wasn’t too happy that I was given his clothing to wear.”

Marco laughed.  “He’ll get over it.  If it was given to you, there’s not much you can do about it.”

“It’s nice to meet everyone who’s a sacrifice,” said Eren.  “If I’m being honest, I only found out that I was a sacrifice yesterday.”

“Well, today Petra can’t teach us, so we’re doing readings,” said Marco.  “These are some good books about spell battling for beginners.  Even though we aren’t fighters, it’s important that we understand how they work, just as much as we understand our role as a sacrifice.”

Eren accepted the books and tucked them under an arm.

Everyone in the room went back to their studies.  Eren sat himself down at Marco’s table and opened one of the books.  He tried to read, but at this point, there was only one thing on his mind.  He scooted his chair closer to Marco.

“Actually, can I talk to you for a second?” asked Eren.  “Hanji’s recommending me for the Infinity program, and I think it would be nice to talk to someone who’s not a fighter.”

Marco blinked.  “Oh wow.  That’s a big decision.  Especially if you don’t know much about being a sacrifice.”

“Because I don’t have a name or a fighter, Hanji and Petra said that it might make a lot of sense for me to become an Infinity.”

“No name, hmmm…”  Marco chewed on the idea.  He furrowed his brow.  “That makes sense from a logistics standpoint, but does it make sense for you?”

“What do you mean?”  Eren thought Hanji and Petra’s logic made sense.  Even Levi bought the idea in the end.  What was in Marco’s mind?

“What is the role of a sacrifice?” he said, gently.

“A sacrifice takes the damage of an enemy fighter,” answered Eren.

Marco smiled.  “This is true, but it is a lot more than that.  You’ve actually only described your relationship with the enemy.”

Eren was puzzled.  That was the definition that Levi had given him.

Marco patted his shoulder.  “Maybe you should read a little bit and talk to other sacrifices, too.  I’ll always be here to talk about my experience as an Infinity sacrifice, but don’t rush into things just because the older pairs say something.  Peerless in particular tends to have a lot of enthusiasm.”

“But Levi…”  Eren clamped a hand over his mouth.  His voice was no longer a whisper.

“It’s okay,” said Marco.  “If you and Levi end up getting very attached to each other, you’ll practice together and be sent on missions together.  You don’t have to shoulder the work of an Infinity sacrifice just to be by his side.  If you’re truly nameless, and he stays partnerless, there’s no reason to pull you apart.  In fact, it’d be better to keep you together.”

Eren cocked his head.  He had never thought about it that way.  He had been so stuck on the idea of sharing a name.  Granted, he still wanted to share a name with Levi, but now, he didn’t feel so sick without it.  People would still recognize them as a pair.  Levi could rely on him in battle.

Everyone in the room was now looking at him.  Eren smiled nervously.

Connie squinted at him.  “Hey, I know why we couldn’t find him this morning.”

Eren was growing redder and redder by the minute.

“Why?  I looked everywhere,” said Christa.

Connie looked so proud of himself.  “He’s Mikasa’s brother.  He must have been staying in the Dauntless room!”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t check there,” said Christa.  “Do you mind if we knock on your door and get you if we don’t see you in the mornings?”

Now Eren was just dumbstruck. “No, it’s okay, my alarm clock wasn’t on today.  I can get up fine.”

“But what about on weekends when we don’t have class and everyone wants to hang out or visit town or something,” said Connie.  “I don’t care if people come and get me.”

This was difficult.  Maybe he was going to have to say something.  “Well, maybe it’s okay if you come and get me, but I don’t know how happy my roommate will be.”

“Dauntless is out on duty, so who is your roommate?” Connie said, scratching his head.

Eren could see the lightbulb flash on in Marco’s eyes.  “Connie, he’s not staying with Dauntless.”  He turned to Eren with a sweet smile on his face.  “You’ve already moved in with Levi, haven’t you.”

Eren watched the eyes bulge and the jaws drop.  “Yeah, Hanji and Petra put me in there last night,” he said, staring at his feet.

Christa shook her head.  “Yup, definitely didn’t check _there_.  I guess now we know where to find you.”  She sighed and then smiled brightly.  “Maybe with a partner, Levi won’t be so grouchy in the morning!”

“No way,” said Connie.  “He’s an amazing fighter, but he’s not very friendly.  And when he forms bonds…well it’s a little awkward if you’re not attracted to other dudes.  I mean, not that two guys together is a bad thing.”

Marco nodded.  “He’s best at forming connections based on sexual and romantic attraction.  We all have our skills.”

“What do you mean?” said Eren.

“Well, I’m good at forming connections based on friendship, so say if I’m paired up to Connie’s figher, Sasha, we match very easily since she forms a strong friendship bond, too,” Marco said. 

He continued.  “But, if I’m matched to Ymir, Christa’s fighter, I can connect to her with a friendship bond, but it’s not as strong as it would be if she could form a bond on sexual attraction.  She only is attracted to girls, so yeah, it’s the same problem that Connie has with Levi.”

“So in other words, Infinity types are not fully interchangeable with a member of a pair?”  Eren wanted to understand Infinity as best as he could, and there seemed to be a lot more to it than Hanji let on.

“That’s correct.  Nobody bonds as strongly as the one who shares your name, though depending on the pair, an Infinity can come close.”  Marco rested his hand on the table.  “Like I know Levi and Erd bond with an extremely high affinity.”

“I don’t think I’ve met Erd yet,” said Eren. 

Levi was an Infinity; he could be paired with any sacrifice.  Eren was fine with this.  But why did he feel a little funny at knowing that he had the ability to form a strong bond—close to a name bond—with someone else?

“Erd and his fighter Gunter are the pair Relentless,” said Christa.  “They’re usually on security detail, so you won’t see them as teachers really, but you never know.  They’re a surprise!” 

“Yeah, it’s not uncommon for them to be gone for days or weeks at a time since the grounds are so huge.  Erd makes a point of getting to know us student sacrifices, but Gunter I rarely ever see,” said Connie.  “Marco, have you ever paired with him?”

“Gunter?  Yeah, once,” answered Marco.  “He wasn’t too hard to bond with.  He’s just very intense, so it takes a lot of energy to support him.  It gives me a lot of respect for Erd.  That can’t be easy.”

Eren closed his eyes.

 _Form a connection with me._   His mind spoke with Levi’s voice.  It was urgent, hungry.

He hadn’t seen their connection, but he’d certainly felt it, springing from deep in his chest.  He remembered back when it was formed.  He could smell the pine around him and feel the rough bark against his back.  He sheared through the memory, isolating the connection.  It was not romantic…it was lust.  Deep in the night, that wasn’t romance, it wasn’t friendship; it was lust.  Eren’s cheeks grew hot.

Maybe this was what Marco was meaning for him to examine.  To bond to another person, he would have to pick their best mode in order to connect with them.  He’d felt how easily Levi formed a sexual connection.  Could he do the same, with anyone, just like that?  What about friendship?  What did that bond even feel like with a fighter?  What if he was bonded to Mikasa for a battle?  Would working with a sister be harder or easier than with a friend or with a lover?

Was this best for him?

Eren looked down at the book that he had open.  It had an almost alchemical looking drawing showing a fighter and a sacrifice, with bonds drawn connecting the two heads, the two hearts, and two of what was called the ‘life force’ and situated at the hips.  In scripted letters, below the sacrifice it read ‘source’, and below the fighter, it said ‘sink’.  Eren frowned.  The sacrifice was the source of what?

Eren heard the click of the door.

“Hello everyone.  I’m sorry I couldn’t make it for most of today.  I know we only have a half hour left, or so.”  Petra limped into the library, most of her weight borne by a very dour looking Levi.

Christa ran up to her, taking her other arm.  “Petra, you look terrible!  What on earth happened?”

“And why is Levi here?” said Connie.

That was the question Eren wanted to know.  Why _was_ Levi here?  Eren cursed his inability to see bonds.  Were they together right now?

“Don’t worry about me,” said Petra.  “This is only a temporary effect of a spell that Hanji did.  I absorbed a portion of someone’s pain.  It’s a very difficult healing spell, and as far as I’m aware Hanji is the only one who can cast it, so it’s no surprise if you’ve never heard of it being done.”

Christa helped Petra into a chair and sat back down.  Levi continued to stand at her right hand, looking coolly off to the side.

“Hanji went to teach your fighters, and my power is sapped, so Levi agreed to come with me and lend me his energy until Hanji’s done,” Petra said.

Eren stared at them.  So they were bonded right now, both of them, Levi supporting her effortlessly.  Eren’s mouth ran dry.  He wondered what that felt like, to be weak and cradled in the energy of another.  Did it feel weird to Petra not to have Hanji with her, but Levi instead?  If Eren became an Infinity, what if he was the one who had to support a fighter who was in terrible shape?  Could he do it?

 “So, why don’t you each give me something you learned from your readings today?”

Marco spoke up.  “Actually, we just had a good group discussion on the nature of bonds and how they are formed.”

“I’ll bet you had a lot to say on the subject, yourself.”  Petra smiled.  She looked over at Christa.  “What about you?”

“I learned that speaking with strong perceptual isochrony** makes a spell stronger, and that if you use it in a command to your fighter, you can gain even more power when they finally cast a spell,” said Christa.

“Yes, speechcraft is always said to be the domain of the fighters.  But, words are powerful for even a sacrifice.  They have a powerful effect on the fighter who hears them.”  Petra got out a notebook and jotted some words down.  “You all are advanced enough to learn more sophisticated command styles.  I’ll teach you some next week.”

Wait.  Command styles?  Eren was a bit lost.

Connie reopened his book.  “I was reading about imaging techniques that fighters use.  I thought that if I understood it more, I could give Sasha ideas for new spells.  I’m not always the best at coming up with new ideas, but there are strategies that you can use even if you’re bad at coming up with stuff on the fly.”

“That is true,” said Petra.  “Sometimes you will see something that your fighter does not, even though all fighters are well versed in these techniques.  Never be afraid to mention an idea to your fighter, even if you think it’s stupid.  Sometimes a fresh point of view is all it takes.”

“How about you, Eren?” Petra asked.  Levi looked up, gaze fixed on Eren.

Eren wanted to crawl under his chair.  He really hadn’t done much other than arrive late, gossip with everyone and open one book.  And now Levi was here…

“Well, actually, I ran across something in a book that I didn’t quite understand,” he said. 

He opened his book to the page with the diagram on it and gave it to Petra.  She stared at the figures.

“In this book, in the diagram of a fighter and sacrifice, the sacrifice is labeled the ‘source’ and the fighter is the ‘sink’.  I thought that maybe I understood what it meant, but your presence here makes my theories fail.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this book,” she said.  She held Eren in her amber eyes.  “Answer me this, Eren.  What is a sacrifice?”

“I was told that a sacrifice takes the damage of an enemy fighter.”  Eren gulped.  “I have some other ideas, but I’m not the best person to speak on the subject.”

“That’s not true, you’ve seen battle,” said Petra.  She looked at Levi.  “You got that definition from him didn’t you.”

“It got the basic point across,” said Levi dryly.  Petra glared at him.  “What?”  Levi said, defensively.

Petra turned back to the class.  “Though they don’t like to hear it, being born a fighter means living life with a set of blinders on.”  She sighed.  “However, it is also true that any fighter can go out and fight without a sacrifice.”

Petra continued.  “Even though they can fight alone, a fighter only reaches his or her potential when connected to a sacrifice.  That fighting peak of 100% exists only because they also command the energy that is _your_ life source.  They are drawing from you as much as they are drawing from themselves.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”  Eren asked.

“It shouldn’t be if you are strongly bound to your fighter,” Petra answered.   “A sacrifice must also bear the damage during a fight, so you must learn to manage your own energies.  As a sacrifice, you don’t have ability to draw energy from your fighter, but why would you?  You need the fighter to have as much power as you can manage.”

Petra showed the diagram in the book around the room.  “This is why the old models like this diagram say ‘source’ and ‘sink’.  A sacrifice is literally a source of energy, and that power is sunk into the fighter.”

“Yes, that makes sense, but—“  Eren was interrupted.

Petra gestured to herself and Levi.  “But, energy is being given from a sink to a source, right in front of you?”

“Yeah.”  Eren nodded.

“Sacrifices cannot take from their fighters, but fighters can reverse the energy flow and give their own life force to their sacrifice.”  She looked at Levi.  “Naturally, it is an easier process for Hanji to give to me, but Infinity fighters can do this for any sacrifice they bond with.”

Petra grinned at Eren.  “Like I said before, fighters fight with blinders on.  If you need something from your fighter, command him to do it.  It is his job—no, his _purpose_ —to hear every word you say.  As a sacrifice, you must see the world exactly as it is and to point him in the right direction.  A fighter without a sacrifice is dangerously untempered.”

Eren thought about the Heartless fighter, Annie.  Now that he knew this, he had a hard time understanding why she would have even challenged them.  But maybe that was wisdom that her absent sacrifice would have provided.

Eren stared at Levi who didn’t seem to be making an expression that showed how he felt one way or the other.  It was like Petra’s words were nothing but fact and about as interesting to him as a chat about the weather.

As a sacrifice, he actually had some power?

When joined, Levi was obligated to listen to him…

Eren thought back to the night before.  Was the fact that they were still sharing a bond part of the reason why Levi spoke so candidly and then acquiesced?

This was fascinating.  He was going to have to talk to other sacrifices about this…when Levi was nowhere near him.

Suddenly, the door was unceremoniously flung open and a terribly excited Hanji burst into the room.  She ran up behind Petra’s chair and threw her arms around her.

“Relieved of duty,” she said to Levi as she continued to nuzzle Petra.

“Finally,” he said.  “I was gonna fall asleep standing up just listening to her teach the most basic stuff in the universe.”

Petra waved at the class.  “It’s Friday, so class dismissed until Monday.  I’ll see you then.”

The other sacrifices left the library, leaving Eren behind with Levi, Hanji, and Petra.  It was the perfect opportunity for him to talk to figure out what to do about clothes.

“Petra, you were gone so I couldn’t talk to you,” said Eren.  “I don’t have any clothes here, and am actually wearing Jean’s stuff now.  Levi said that I should talk to you about giving you my sizes?”

“Oh!  Darn!” Petra said.  “You’d have been so cute to dress up, too.”

Hanji stepped in.  “Petra’s too weak to pick up anything in town right now.  I’d go, but I need to be supporting her.”

Eren was not relishing the idea of going to ask Jean for more things to wear.  Well, maybe if he could go through Marco, the process would be easier.  He’d have to think on that one.

“I can see it in your face; don’t worry about it,” said Petra.  “Levi’s going to take you out on the town.”

“What?”  Levi said annoyance in his eyes.  “I’m not doing the girly stuff.”

Petra giggled.  “You go to town pick out your own things and don’t let me shop for you because you’re just that picky.  Admit it.  You like it.”

“Think of it as a date!”  said Hanji.

Eren blushed.  He’d never been on a date.  And this was the weirdest circumstance to warrant one.

Levi balled his hands into fists.  “Why are you trying so hard to set us up!?  I’ve barely agreed to let him be my sacrifice, and you’re pushing him into my bed and fucking with my alarm clock, and doing who the hell knows what.  You perverts just want to hear lewd noises through the wall like I have to hear every goddamn night!”

Petra’s eyes went wide.  “So you have decided to let him be your sacrifice!  I knew it.  You weren’t half as mad at us as you would have been otherwise.”

Hanji moved to play with Eren’s ears.  “We knew you couldn’t resist him!  He’s so cute!”

“Ugh.  Why do I even bother…” Levi grabbed Eren’s wrist.  “We’re leaving.  Now.”

“We’ll see you around!”  Hanji said as she helped Petra up off of the chair.

Eren attempted to wave goodbye, but he was already moving halfway down the hallway.

xXx

Levi had an absolutely magical habit of disappearing, Eren had decided.  It was not soon after they had left the library, Levi let go of his hand.  But, Eren stopped to tie his shoelaces, and in that instant, Levi was gone.  He hadn’t even heard any footsteps, even on these old creaking floors.  At least Eren recognized the way that Mike had taken him to the library, so he had no trouble following that downstairs.

Eren decided to do some more exploring of the building until dinner.  It was Christa and her tall, dark haired fighter, Ymir, who had found him and brought him into the dining room.  He noticed everybody was there in their respective pairs.  Hanji sat practically cradling Petra.  Jean and Marco sat by them, Jean still giving him the evil eye.  Connie and Sasha were across from him at the table and Connie was trying to valiantly hold his plate against Sasha’s constant forays to grab her favorite foods.  A blond man with a sour expression he hadn’t met sat on the other side of Petra, Aururo being what people seemed to call him.  Christa had taken her place by Eren and truth be told, he felt a little uneasy under her fighter’s sharp-eyed stare, so he was glad when Ymir finally sat down. 

Mike and Nanaba were the last to sit down.  “We figured since we were in town, we’d make the food tonight,” they said.

And boy was Eren glad that they did.  The seasoning on the baked chicken was delicious, and the rice pilaf was light and fluffy.  He managed to get a piece of bread when Sasha wasn’t looking and watched the two of them with amusement as Sasha tried to figure out where it went.  He was deep in thought, munching on his mixed vegetables when Petra brought him back to earth. 

“Hey, where’s Levi?” she asked.  “At this rate, he’s not gonna get anything.”

“I-I don’t know,” said Eren.  “I don’t even know how I lost him!”

“Yeah, he’s good at that,” said Nanaba.  “If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be found.”

“If he disappears on you tomorrow, I’ll kill him!” said Petra as she stuffed her mouth with rice.

Nanaba looked at him.  “If he vanishes tomorrow, I’ll take you to town if you need to go.”

Eren blushed.  How did Nanaba know about this?  Since if Nanaba knew, then who else did?

“No, no,” said Hanji.  “It’s the principle of the matter.  That’s nice of you Nanaba, but it really does have to be Levi.”

“Oh, I was just thinking that he’d get jealous and magically appear,” said Nanaba as he gestured with a fork.  “He’s got animal sense like that.”

Mike put his arm around Nanaba and crushed him to his chest.  “You guys know it’s completely true.”

Eren looked over at his classmates, but they seemed to be too much into each other to be listening in on his conversation.

“Okay, it’s settled.  If he doesn’t take you, find Nanaba and let the games begin!”  Petra laughed.

But Eren really had to wonder.  Where the hell was Levi?

The after dinner conversations only got more and more rowdy.  Eren found it easy to forget that just yesterday he was taken from his home and flung into a world he had no idea existed.  These people felt warm like family, like when his father, mother, and Mikasa lived with him under one roof.  Soon it was time to clean and put everything away.  He carried his dishes into the kitchen and washed them and left so that there was room for more people to use the sink.

Eren made his way to the hallway with all of the bedrooms.  It wasn’t so much that he was tired, but he just wanted some time to reflect on everything he was learning.  The others were going to the activity room, but he wasn’t really in the mood for games.

He stopped in front of the Infinity door and stared at the doorknob before touching it.  He walked inside and turned on the light, shutting the door behind him.

“You said you wanted me to come to bed earlier.”

Eren whirled around to find Levi sitting in his desk chair, his shirt taken off and folded on the floor.  He felt the blood rush to his face…and some other places.

“Levi…” he breathed.

Levi stood up and padded towards him, staring at him with his intense eyes.  “Was I wrong?”

Eren tried for words, but none came out.  He tried to breathe, and that wasn’t going well either.  Levi continued to walk towards him.  Their hands met; he leaned into Levi, and bent down to reach his lips.

How was he going to keep it together tonight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Perceptual Isochrony... My first publication in graduate school dealt with this phenomenon of human speech. It’s basically the rhythms that form when you’re speaking, like as if you could tap to a beat to your speech. So sorry, but I couldn't not include it. O_o
> 
>  
> 
> Needless to say, I'm super excited about Ch 7. Expect an early release. Also, expect a rating change.


	7. Boundless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't get this out as fast as I wanted. Sorry, sorry.
> 
> But yes! Rating change! Welcome to level M. <3 We shall prepare for the trajectory to E!
> 
> I just wanted to say that my conceptualization of Annie/Reiner/Bertholdt has been profoundly influenced by the fic We're the Gladiators by sevenswells. It's explicit and here http://archiveofourown.org/works/998001
> 
> Oh, and now with a side of Ymir/Christa.

Ch 7:  Boundless

Levi pushed into Eren’s lips before pulling Eren’s head back from the kiss.  Eren stared into the stark grey eyes, searching for intention, but as usual, Levi was remarkably hard to read.  Eren pushed forward again to try and reach Levi’s lips, but Levi held him firmly in place.

“No,” he said.

“But!  Aren’t we—“

“Shhh.   Isn’t the sacrifice the one who exhibits control?”  He let go of the back of Eren’s head and slid his hand down the side of Eren’s face.  He brushed his thumb over Eren’s lips. 

Eren swallowed hard.  He was still transfixed in Levi’s stare.

Levi began to undo the buttons of his shirt.  The systematic pace as each one popped out of the fabric made Eren’s heart race faster.  When the fabric hung open completely, Levi put his hands on Eren’s chest, sliding up to reach his shoulders.

“You were the one who asked to touch me last night.  Do you believe in fairness?  Or is it more important that you be using your hands?” Levi asked.  “What kind of sacrifice do I have?”

Eren could hear his voice, but it sounded strange, like it was coming off someone else’s tongue.  “Touch me, Levi.”

“Oh?”

“Touch me how you like to be touched,” Eren said.

Levi frowned.  “No, brat.  We’ll find out how you like to be touched.  I want to be able to bring you to your knees whenever I feel like it.”

“Seriously?”  The timbre of Eren’s voice was thin.  “But I’ve never…”

“Exactly,” said Levi.  “You’ve never done anything, so you can’t fucking tell me what you like.  It’s annoying.”  He slid the shirt off of Eren’s shoulders.  “Communication is an important part of our bond, and you need to learn how to tell me what you need.”

Eren remembered the lecture from the afternoon.  It was one thing listening to fighter-sacrifice theory, but it was something else to have Levi put it into a real world situation—this real world situation.  How was he going to think straight in class!?

“I went out and got some things for us today,” said Levi. 

Eren blushed and his mind spun around.  What kinds of things was Levi going to be doing!?

Now that the shirt was off, Levi got to his knees.  He held his hands behind his back and undid the button of Eren’s pants with his teeth.  Eren stood there speechless.

“It’s not _that_ hard to do, brat.”  Levi smiled wryly.  He pulled on the zipper and grabbed the waist, easing the pants over his hips, pulling them down his legs.  Eren stepped out of them and made a step towards the bed.  Levi grabbed his hips and pulled Eren back in front of him.

“I didn’t say you could go.  I’m not done yet,” Levi said sharply.

He grabbed the bottom of Eren’s boxers and pulled.  Eren jumped and grabbed onto the waistband.

“But, you can’t mean—“

“Easy, Eren.  Tonight’s about sensation.  I’m gonna touch you everywhere I can.”  He grabbed Eren’s hands and ran his thumbs over them.  “I want you to trust me.  I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do.  All you gotta do is tell me what you want.”

Eren relaxed, breathing deeply.  He was calm again.  He squeezed Levi’s hands.  “I’m okay.  It’s just nerves.  You…you can do it.”

Levi nodded his head.  He slipped his fingers under the waistband and pulled down.  Eren closed his eyes.  He felt two hands grasping either side of his knee, then felt them slide up his thigh in a fluid motion.  Eren shut his eyes even tighter.  He could feel himself beginning to harden.  Between the air on his skin and the warmth of Levi’s hands—fuck his hands were always so warm, Eren was completely lost.

“Eren,” said Levi.

Eren opened his eyes to meet Levi’s deep, searching stare.

“Eren,” he said as he rose from his knees. Levi leaned his bare chest against Eren’s and framed Eren’s face in his hands.  “You’re perfect.”

Eren let his arms wrap around Levi and he kissed him deeply.  There was this warm feeling that kept radiating from inside his chest that sprung anew any time Levi touched him or spoke.  He ran his hands over Levi’s body, the curves of his muscles becoming more and more familiar under his fingertips.  It was purely intoxicating to be together like this.

Levi pulled back, his lips kissed into a deeper red.  He smirked.  “If I’d have known that’s all it would take, maybe I shoulda said, ‘you’re easy’.”

“Hey!” said Eren, blushing.  “You’re the first person I’ve ever done anything remotely like this with.”  He paused.  “I’ve had plenty of crushes, but…”

“But what,” said Levi flatly.

“But you’re the only one I’ve actually wanted to do something about,” Eren snapped.  He looked away, ears flat.

Now it was Levi’s turn to blush.  He crossed his arms over his chest.  “Damn it, Eren!”  He said.  “Get over on that bed!”

Eren looked at him strangely.  “Sir, was that another ‘good’ damn it?”

Levi grabbed him by the back of his head and wrenched him down into another kiss.  Eren grinned as he was released.  He walked over to the bed.

“Just lie on the top,” said Levi.

“Ok.”  Eren climbed into the middle.  He no longer felt awkward being naked, even with Levi there still half dressed, with his eyes on him.  Excitement burnt through him.

Levi reached into a bag on his desk and pulled out a set of handcuffs with a fabric lining.  He twirled it on a finger.  “What did you say last night?  You’d give me your heart, body, mind, and soul?”

Eren blushed.  “Levi…is that how you want me?”

“I want you to be able to squirm and strain as much as you want,” said Levi.  “What do you want?  Do you need more control?  I can hold you down myself if that turns you on more.”

Eren appraised Levi’s face.  He trusted him, didn’t he?  If he was going to be his sacrifice, he was going to have to trust him, and trust him with his life.  Eren sighed.

“I want you to show me the best that you’re capable of,” Eren challenged.  “I’ll tell you if it’s too much,” he demurred afterwards, looking off to the side.

Levi smiled.  This kid, seriously…

Levi latched one cuff around one wrist, threaded it behind a bedpost, and grabbed his other wrist and fastened it above his head.  Eren gave a few tentative pulls at his restraints.  Levi loved the way he looked as his muscles tensed and flexed.

“A few things before we start.”  Levi cleared his throat.  “If you don’t like something, tell me.  If you do like something, tell me, damn it.  And before you ask, brat, I’m not taking your ears.”

“But!” said Eren.  “Then what’s the point?”

“I already told you the point.”  Levi spat.  “It’s for you to get used to telling me what you need.  If you can’t do it here, you won’t be able to do it in battle!  If you can’t tell me what you fucking need, I can’t fucking help you!”  Levi slowed his breathing down.  He hadn’t meant to yell at Eren.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No, I’m sorry,” said Eren.  His face softened. “I-I get it.”  He paused, looking uneasily at Levi.  “It’s because you don’t want to lose me like…too.”  He looked away.  “Is that it?” His voice creaked.

Levi stood there transfixed.  He could feel his heart calling out to Eren, and it scared him more than anything else in the world.  He was already attached, and there was nothing else he could do.

Levi sat down on the edge of the bed.  He caressed the side of Eren’s face.

“Well, fuck me.”  He sighed. 

Eren looked back at him, startled to see the hungry look in Levi’s eyes.

“Brat, there are plenty of ways for me to make you cum without taking your ears,” he said.

“Eh?”  Eren’s eyes grew wide.

“I know some people think I’m an asshole, but I’m not _that_ cruel.  I’m not gonna play with you and leave you strung up and frustrated.”

Levi got up and walked back over to his desk.  “One more thing.”

He pulled out a black silk scarf.  Eren looked at him confused.

“It’s a blindfold.  I want you to just concentrate on the sensations I’m giving you.  I don’t want you to think about anything else,” Levi said.

“To be honest, sir, I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate on anything else,” said Eren.  “I’d still like to use it though.”   

Levi tied the black silk around him, pulling it tight, but not overly so, closing it with a soft square knot.

“How do you feel?”  Levi asked.

“Good, but a little weird.  I don’t know where you’re going to come from, so my skin feels a bit strange, like it’s trying to imagine your touch in a million places at once,” Eren confessed.

“Do you want me to start from the top or the bottom?  Or would you rather me choose?”

“The top.”  Eren said.  “Will you get my back at all?  I’m not sure what these cuffs will let me do…”

Levi leaned into Eren’s ear.  “I’ll reverse your hands.  I told you that I’m going to touch you everywhere.  Places where no one else has touched you before.  Places that belong to me now.”

Eren whimpered. 

Levi smiled.  “It doesn’t take any effort to get you worked up, does it?”

He reached out and touched Eren’s cat ears.  “I remember when I had these.  I used to love it when someone rubbed them or rolled them.  Or when someone did this.”  Levi began to gently nibble on the ears.  “Have you ever felt that before?”

“N-no, I’ve never felt that.  It feels good.”  Eren paused.  “Roll one while you bite the other.”

“My first commands,” Levi said dryly.  He rolled the left one in his left hand as he gently bit at the right one.

“But isn’t that what you wanted?  I mean—” Eren was silenced with Levi’s lips.

After lavishing some more attention on Eren, he stroked his hands through the boy’s hair.  He pulled against the grain of the hair.

“That!  I like it when you do that.” 

Levi stroked both of his hands through the hair, letting it sluice between his fingers.  He massaged the scalp and Eren let out a little moan.

“You’re so sensitive,” Levi teased.  “You love to be touched in general, don’t you.”

“It’s only because it’s because it’s you,” said Eren.  “Now rub harder.”

Levi worked his hands harder and bent his head down, fluttering a set of eyelashes over Eren’s lips.  When Eren gasped at the sensation, he kissed him lightly.  Eren tried to lean into the kiss, but Levi kept pulling back, so that they remained touching but only just barely.

“That’s not fair!” said Eren.

“And what can you do about it?” Levi taunted.  Eren pulled at his handcuffs.

“I command you to kiss me hard, and I want to taste your tongue.”

“You’re so bossy.” 

Levi interlocked his lips with Eren and pushed through them.  Eren moaned into him and he continued to stroke his tongue against Eren’s.  He had to smile when he noticed Eren breathing normally.  He ran the tip of his tongue over Eren’s bottom lip twice before biting it gently.  Eren bit back, trapping his lower lip.  Levi smiled.  The boy was getting good.

“We’ve tried those ears.  Now, these ones,” said Levi.

Levi licked upwards, starting from the earlobes and went upwards.  He blew over top the trail he licked, watching Eren shiver and strain against his bonds.  He breathed heavily in Eren’s ears, and that only made him strain more.

“Lick me, then come up close and tell me exactly what you want to do to me.”

Levi leaned over and licked his other ear, leaving his lips just a hairsbreadth away.

“I’m not gonna fucking tell you anything, brat, because if you know what’s coming, it ruins the surprise,” he purred.  He kissed the edge of his earlobe and moved onto Eren’s neck.

“Argh!”  Eren voiced his disappointment.

Levi ran his hands over Eren’s neck.  “Hmmm.”

“What?” Eren asked.

“I don’t have a name I can give to you, but I can definitely mark you to show that you’re mine.”  Levi played in the divot between Eren’s collarbones.  “I’ll do it, if you have the courage to bear it.”

“Everyone knows I’m with you anyway,” said Eren.  “I had to come out and say I was living with you in class today.  It was so embarrassing.”

“Do they really know?”  Levi asked.  “I can think of a few who don’t.  One person who’d probably be pissed.”

“Just do it.  I wanna know what it feels like,” barked Eren.

Levi set to work on the sensitive skin on Eren’s neck.  He kissed hard, drawing skin against teeth.  Eren cried out which only spurred him on harder.  He cut his way down to Eren’s collarbone.  He traced a finger over the bruised path, examining his handiwork.

“You’re gonna get some looks tomorrow,” he teased.

“Can I see?” said Eren.

“When we’re done.”  Levi straddled Eren and sat down.  “You’ll have all the time in the world to look.”

Now Levi turned his attention to Eren’s arms.  He ran his hands up them and scratched his nails down them.  He bent over at the waist, taking one of Eren’s hands.  He took the index finger in his mouth and sucked on it, swirling his tongue around it.

“Hey!”  said Eren.  “Isn’t that like what you do for, you know…”

Now Levi just wanted to screw with him.  “For what?” he said dryly.

“You know, when you’re gonna give someone…” 

Levi started laughing at him. 

“Okay, you’re just fucking with me!” Eren growled.  “Do I get one?”

“No.  That’s a different lesson.  But you can imagine what it would feel like.”  Levi took the finger in his mouth again and then shoved it partway down his throat, against the soft tissues that lined the back.

“Holy shit,” said Eren.  “Levi…”

Levi pulled the finger out of his mouth with a pop.  He positioned himself lower, his hips now inline with Eren’s.  He could feel Eren’s hardness and instinctively he ground up against it.  He sat up there and pulled his hands over Eren’s chest.  Running his index fingers over nipples, he flicked them gently.

“Hey!” said Eren.  “I’m not a girl.”

“I have more than enough proof that you’re not.”  Levi shifted his hips, making Eren very aware of how close they were.

“Just try this sensation.”  Levi rolled his left nipple with his tongue.  He grabbed it gently with his teeth and pulled back…

“Actually…I like that…a lot,” said Eren.  “This time, bite me a little harder.”

“Gladly.”  Levi moved to the right side with his mouth, his hand still playing with the left nipple.  “If you like this, you might even like being clamped and being teased.”

Eren squirmed against his bonds as Levi attended to his chest.  “Whatever you want to try with me, I’ll let you do it,” he said breathlessly.  “You’re incredible.” 

“Brat, you just don’t know any better.  And me, I’ve had practice.”  Levi reached up and ran a hand through Eren’s hair.  “I’m gonna flip you over now.”

“Now?”  Eren was completely lost in his sensations.

Levi freed one hand from the handcuffs, helped Eren onto his front, and then closed the cuff on his free hand.

“Just another thing.”  Eren could hear Levi shuffling around in the bag on the desk.

Levi came back and crawled on the bed, straddling his waist.  Eren gasped as a warming liquid was poured onto his shoulders.  Levi coated his palms in it and began to knead the muscles in his shoulders and neck.  He compressed and rolled his hands over Eren’s back.  The way that Eren’s form glistened under the oil was gorgeous.  Levi stopped, taking in the breathtaking view.

“Who said you could stop,” said Eren weakly.

“It’s your own damn fault,” said Levi.  “The view of the world down your back is a place I’ll have to return to when you’re ready.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll understand when we get there.”  He kissed the back of Eren’s neck.

He continued his way down Eren’s back, kneading into the lumbar region.  Finally, he rested his palms on Eren’s ass.

“I’m a pervert, so humor me.  On your knees.”

“But…”

“I already told you I’m not gonna take your ears.  But I am going to touch you where no one else has ever touched you before.”

Eren shakily got to his knees.

“Spread your legs a bit more.”  Levi nudged his thighs apart.

Eren cried out at the feeling of being so exposed.  “Levi…”

Levi ran his hands up the backs of Eren’s thighs and grabbed the round curves of his ass cheeks.  He massaged them, pulling them further apart and earning him more moans from Eren.  He traced his index finger down the crack to where the hole was.  Eren whimpered as he circled around it, stroked down and across it.  Eren made a keening sound.

“Aren’t you going to put something in me?” Eren asked, confused as to why Levi had stopped.

“Nope.”  Levi drew his hands away.

“A finger wouldn’t take away my ears,” said Eren.

“I know,” said Levi.  “Just enjoy the touch.  You did like it, didn’t you?”

“You’re right, no one’s ever touched me there,” Eren breathed.  “I never knew I had so many places that I wanted you to touch.  You want me to tell you what I like, but it’s as if you already know.”

Levi lightly continued down past the hole to a soft patch of skin.  He bent in and kissed it, causing Eren to gasp and jump. 

“Levi…”

It was taking everything in Levi’s power to stay cool-headed.  The warmth pooling in him at seeing Eren restrained, blindfolded, and blatantly exposed only got worse the more Eren said, and the more he squirmed at his bonds, in his immodesty, in his desire.

“Time to flip you over,” Levi said.  Again he unhooked one of the cuffs and Eren returned to his back.  He kissed him gently on the lips.

“Will I get to do this to you?”  Eren asked.

“If you want.”  Levi sighed.  “There’s a lot of other stuff that we should do first.”

Levi sat down by Eren’s hips.  He saw Eren engorged and impossibly hard.  The tip of his cock was wet and dripping, the drops slowly running down.

“I was planning to start at your feet.  But, if you’d rather cum right now…”  Levi lightly stroked the underside and Eren made a small noise in the back of his throat.  “Tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Levi,” said Eren.  “Make me cum.”

Levi went to the desk and pulled a bottle of lube from his bag.  He sat back down by Eren and coated his palms in the clear liquid.

“You’re not going to last very long,” said Levi.

“Tch!  Shut up!  It wouldn’t be that way if you hadn’t spent all your time teasing me!”

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”  He grabbed Eren in his dominant hand.  “I’m going to mark you down here too, where nobody will see it other than me.”

He pumped his hand up and down Eren’s cock as he kissed the inside of his thigh.  He could feel Eren’s back arch at the stimulation.  He pulled his head back, lightly bruising the fair skin against his tongue before he let go. Then he worked Eren with both hands, one hand sliding down, quickly followed by the other, giving the illusion that Eren was fucking a slick, infinite, spinning tube.  Each time, he flicked his thumb over the head, over the thin bridge of flesh, and Eren moaned.

Levi slowed down his pace.  Eren let out a questioning gasp.  He moved one hand to Eren’s balls  and cupped them, massaging them in his palm.  He left the other hand stroking Eren’s shaft.

“Levi,” Eren breathed.  “Faster…”

“Like this?”  Levi sped up a little bit and played a little longer with his thumb on Eren’s frenulum.

“More!” Eren demanded.

Levi complied.  He watched Eren’s face change, his clenched teeth giving way to an open, moaning mouth.  

“Levi!” he cried.  “I’m…I’m gonna cum!”

Levi narrowed his eyes and worked Eren’s shaft even faster and even harder.  Eren cried out in ecstasy, straining against his bonds, against the bed.

“Levi!” 

The warm liquid spurted out over Levi’s hand, over Eren’s stomach.  Levi gave a last few pumps, feeling Eren soften in his hand.  He let go and licked his hand thoughtfully.  He reached over and took the blindfold off of Eren.

“You taste good,” said Levi.

“Eh?”  Eren tried hiding his face under an arm.  “That’s embarrassing.”

“Nothing more embarrassing than everything else I made you do.” 

Levi reached down by the side of his desk to where a hand towel was.  He wiped off his hands with it and began to clean up Eren.

“Hey, let me go and I’ll take care of all that.”  Eren blushed.  “You’ve done enough for me.”

Levi got the key out of his pocket and undid the locks on the handcuffs.  Eren pulled his arms down and stretched them.  He rubbed his wrists, but they weren’t that sore.  Eren began toweling off, but the remnants of the lube just kept sticking.

“Levi, where are the showers in this place?  I didn’t even think about it yesterday since I got here so late.”

“There’s lots of places, but there’s an old style bathroom in the west wing has one of those old claw-footed bathtubs.  You wanna clean up with me?

Eren smiled.  “Sure.  Besides, after all of this, I owe you something.”

“Nah,” said Levi.  “You don’t owe me shit.”  He threw Eren’s pants at him.  “Get your ass half dressed if you’re gonna go to the bath.  Have at least some shame.”

Eren smiled.  “Yes, sir.”

xXx

Annie was ridiculously sore from packing up their old house and unpacking everything to their new location.  The house itself wasn’t bad; the natural lighting inside was a poor and she liked the darkness it gave.  She couldn’t complain about her muscles of course because Reiner and Bertholdt did the lion’s share of the lifting, but it wasn’t her fault that she came up to their chests.  She could still beat the shit out of them in hand-to-hand combat, and that’s what mattered to her.

She looked to either side of her in the bed.  Reiner and Bertholdt were both fast asleep, each of them curling in, facing her.  Reiner’s face looked so peaceful in his sleep, and Bertholdt looked uncharacteristically carefree.  Annie snuggled her back against Bertholdt and curled to put her forehead against Reiner’s chest.  She liked it because she could feel two heartbeats that way.

On their first mission together it was the dead of winter, and they had operated from a house without heat.  She took Reiner’s offer and slept with them in the same bed to stay warm at night.  It was a long time, years since then, but even when they moved to a heated house a few missions later, sleeping together was just natural, comforting even.  She didn’t care if they never got up the courage to take her ears; there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

Annie closed her eyes finally ready to fall asleep herself.

A happy, jaunty, repetitive tune played from over Reiner’s shoulder.  It got louder and louder the longer it played.

“Fuck.”  Reiner stirred as Annie crawled over him to get at the nightstand.  “This better be a good reason for getting a call.”

She grasped her phone, the pink one in the middle with the crystal charms because her boss had a sick sense of humor.

“What do _you_ want,” she asked after seeing the caller displayed on the back.

Reiner and Bertholdt were now awake and listening, too.

“A second chance?  I don’t care if it’s going to be harder.”  Annie pulled on her hair.

Reiner traced a finger on Annie’s stomach.  “What is it?”

Annie put her hand over the phone receiver.  “We may have another shot at Eren.”

Both pairs of eyes grew wide, expectant.

“Okay, so he’s going to be visiting Trost, the town by Three Walls, tomorrow during the day.  Shopping, whatever, I don’t care,” Annie said.

“Will he be alone?” asked Bertholdt.

She made a quiet sign with her finger over her lips.  “So he’ll be with Infinity again.  Oh, he’s even more bonded with Infinity now.  Peachy.  And Restless?  He might be with Restless, too?”

Annie sighed.  “Yeah, I know, it’s not your job to decide those things.  Thanks for the heads up.  Bye.”

She hung up the phone.  She tapped it against her lips.

“What do you guys think?”  She ran her hands over their arms and grabbed their hands.  “Eren will either be going to town with just Infinity, or both Infinity and Restless tomorrow.  It depends on how much Infinity feels like a drama queen.  We have to be careful, as it is broad daylight in a heavily populated area.”

Annie looked at Bertholdt.  “What do you think Bertl?”

“I think we should call boss and see if he still wants us to bring Eren in or if he just wants us to turn him,” he said nervously.  “I don’t think we can face Restless and Infinity at the same time in a public place.”

“Hmmm.”  Annie thought deeply about the situation.  “You know, that isn’t half bad.”

“It wasn’t?”  Bertholdt was surprised.

“Yeah,” said Reiner.  “If we can get a hold of a car or something and can distract Infinity and Restless for ten minutes or so…we could easily drive off with him and turn him, and he’d be one of us!  He’d have no choice but to defect from Three Walls.”

“I called boss last time,” Annie said dryly.  “Reiner, you do it.  I don’t feel like being the one to wake him up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he grinned and dialed an all too familiar number.

xXx

Ymir was dead tired.  No one came to the top floor of the west wing at night, well apparently except for a half naked Eren and Levi who were disgustingly all over each other.  They didn’t notice the silent girl who blended in with the backdrop of old Victorian furniture.  Even if she was dressed in neon and dancing the can-can, she was pretty sure that neither one of them would have noticed her with how lost they were in each other.

There was only one reason why she was here.  She glanced at her phone and put it back in her pocket.  Quietly she crept down the staircase, through the maze of rooms to where the dormitory quarters were.  She went to her sanctuary, the place where Lawless rests, opening the door.

“Ymir!  Where have you been?”  Christa got up from her desk.

Ymir slunk inside the doorway.  “Sorry, I had to make a phone call,” she said. 

Stiffly, Ymir sat on the edge of the bed.  Christa walked over to her.  She kneeled on the mattress between Ymir’s splayed legs and put her arms around her neck.  She rested her forehead against Ymir and closed her eyes.

“Who are you calling?”  Christa’s voice was a whisper.  “You did this the other day, too.”

Christa ran her fingers through Ymir’s hair.  “I thought we agreed not to keep secrets.”

Ymir smiled.  “I can tell you a secret, but you’d never believe me.”

“Try me.”  Christa pushed Ymir onto her back.  She twitched her tail.  It always made Ymir smile to see her like this, so cute, so unaware of everything that was around her.

“One day there will come a time when we don’t have to hide anymore,” said Ymir.  “I don’t know when it will be or how it will happen, but it’s true.”

Christa’s eyes went wide.  “Ymir, that’s dangerous.”

Ymir reached up and touched Christa’s face.  “I know.  That’s why I made sure that I could protect you.  I’m your fighter.  I’d do anything to save your life.”

Christa reached into Ymir’s pocket and got out her cell phone.  She looked at the recent calls.  All of those not made out to her were all made to the same A. Leonhart.

“Should I call them?” said Christa, studying Ymir’s face.

“You can call her if you want.  She’s kind of a bitch to talk to, though.”  Ymir shrugged.  “Your choice.”

“Fine,” said Christa.  “I’m deleting this number from your phone.  Don’t call it ever again.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll never call her again.  I have what I need to keep you safe, so I don’t need her anymore.  Okay?”  Ymir looked up at Christa, waiting.

Christa smiled.  “Okay,” she said.

She bent down and kissed Ymir, drinking her in deeply.  There was still a lot to Ymir that was a mystery to her, the missing ears, stories half told.  But she knew that she loved Ymir more than anything, and that Ymir loved her even more than that.


	8. Faceless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there may only be one update this week. Thanksgiving is always busy, so unless people would be really upset, I'll resume posting in December.
> 
> Hell, who knows, I might go on a posting spree anyway because I get excited and the next chapter has smut in it which I've already written XD. 
> 
> We'll see how tired I am of dealing with people. Especially family. It's just so difficult to talk to extended family who knows nothing about you and has nothing in common with you. And In-laws. In-laws are always rough.

Ch 8:  Faceless

Mikasa opened the door after she heard the knock.  Gunter and Erd stood before her on the front stoop of her cottage hideaway.  She stepped backwards, giving them room.

“Come in,” she said.  She eyed them with some suspicion, but let them past her.

Why would Gunter and Erd be here?  Weren’t they generally on security detail back at Three Walls?

“Gunter?  Erd?”  Armin cried out from his bed. 

Erd walked over to him and knelt down.  He patted Armin’s head.  Erd had watched him grow up as a sacrifice, and ever since Armin graduated, he’d always felt somewhat responsible for him.  He was the one who signed the paperwork for approval of an early graduation, after all.  Gunter didn’t involve himself with students much, but Erd made it his business to know all of the sacrifices.  For all Levi’s bitching, Erwin himself had signed for Mikasa’s release; it would have been strange if she and Armin had not been ready together.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.  “I know you saw Peerless yesterday.”

“I’m a lot better than I was,” said Armin.  “My bones are fixed, but all of the bruising is going to take time to heal.  I also lost a lot of blood, but Hanji cast a spell to help with replenishing that.”

Erd looked up at Gunter with concern.  Gunter nodded.  He faced Mikasa.  “I know this is sudden, but we need you to take us to where your battle happened.”

Mikasa’s eyes flashed.  “Absolutely not.  I will not leave Armin.”

Erd smiled.  “You won’t have to.  We’ll take him with us.  I’ll hold him on my horse behind you, while you lead Gunter.”

Gunter spoke.  “We heard about what happened, with the titan.  If we can get to that spot and track where Ruthless went directly after the battle, we may be able to find something valuable.”

“But what if you find Ruthless?” she said.  “We can’t afford to lose another team right now.”

“Don’t worry, Erwin’s already thought about this.”  Both men pointed to what they were wearing; it looked like bizarre imitations of climbing harnesses with holstered blades by each thigh.

“Pixis found the schematics for these in the old director’s things after he left three years ago.  I can’t show you how it works in here, but it allows you to move freely in all dimensions and with incredible speed,” said Erd.  “And the blades would be easy to use against something large and fleshy.”

“We’ve spent the past few weeks learning how to use them in secret.  Ever since we saw that first titan on our grounds, we’ve had plans to make this weapon usable,” said Gunter.

“The old director…” Mikasa put a hand over her mouth.  “Are you trying to tell me that my father somehow knows about these titans?”

Gunter shrugged.  “I dunno.  But Erwin seems to know more than what he’s telling us.  He’s been at this longer than any of us, and he’s met with Pixis and Zacklay.  We’ve got no choice but to trust him.”

“You know, if you want more info, you can always try and pry it out of Levi,” said Erd.  “I don’t know if he knows anything; he wasn’t in his room last night when I checked, otherwise I’d have asked.”

“He never tells me anything,” said Mikasa bitterly. 

Erd laughed.  “You just don’t know how to talk to him.  I’ll try and find him later after this mission.”

Mikasa didn’t like this.  Any of it.  But she couldn’t disobey this request.

 “Fine,” she said.  “I’d take you to where we battled, but I have no horse.  It’s about 20 miles from here, and there are no roads near where we fought.  Armin wouldn’t make it on foot from the nearest road.”

Erd shook his head.  “No worries.  We brought you an extra horse to use.  If I remember right, that dappled mare is fond of you.”

Mikasa took a deep breath.  “Then we’ll ride.”

Erd lifted Armin out of his bed and carried him outside.  He passed Armin to Gunter while he got on his horse and then reseated Armin in front of him.  He pulled Armin back into him with one arm.  “Just lean into me,” he said.  “Relax and I’ll make sure you don’t fall off.”

Mikasa grabbed Armin’s hand.  “Don’t worry about me, Mikasa,” he said, squeezing back.  “I know you’re not happy right now but we can talk about things when we get home, okay?”

Mikasa nodded.  She took the horse Gunter offered her and jumped on its back.

“Follow me,” she said, urging her horse onward.

With that, the three horses made their way into the wilderness.

xXx

Annie stood in front of the mirror.  She looked so unlike herself, dressed in a featherweight pale blue sundress.  The haltered back showed the start of the _heartless_ that was printed down her spine.  She had to blend in at that tourist trap of a town, and usually the girls her age didn’t hide out in old jeans and muscle tees.

A gentle hand touched the bare skin of her back.  “Annie, you look nice.”  It was Bertholdt.  She smiled and reached back for his other hand.

“Yeah, Annie.  You looked like shit before, but now, we can finally take you out on the town without being all embarrassed.”  Reiner joked as he reached over and rubbed her ears.

“Fuck you too, Reiner.”  She started laughing and whapped him on the chest.  “So, let me see.  What do our wheels look like.”

Annie walked out the front door to see an unmarked white van sitting in the driveway.  She looked at Reiner.  “Cute.  No really, where’s the car?”

Bertholdt confronted her, the all too familiar sweatdrop forming on the side of his face.  “Actually, this was all they could give us.  We tried for a towncar or a nice SUV or something, but it was either this or a minivan.  I think they had a two-seater convertible, too.”

Annie massaged her forehead.  “So we stroll in there with this shady-ass van, say ‘hey Eren, there’s free candy, come on in’ and then we hit Infinity and Restless with the front bumper and we’re good?  Reiner!” 

“No it’s okay,” said Bertholdt.  “Reiner and I are going to stay in the van and try to stay near you.  We can’t be out in the town.”

“Yeah, both Infinity and Restless know our faces,” said Reiner. 

“That might be true, but Eren hasn’t seen your faces, so wouldn’t he be more likely to come with you?” asked Annie.

Bertholdt shook his head.  “He might, but we _really_ stand out.  They’d catch us in minutes.  You look almost completely different from when Eren last saw you, and as a bonus, Restless doesn’t know what you look like.”

Reiner scratched his head.  “You could probably get by with a pair of sunglasses and one of those cute little sunhats.  Wear your hair down, since it was up when they met you.”

 “Good idea.  Best thing you’ve said all day.”   Annie narrowed her eyes.  “Okay.  I’ll try and separate Eren away from the bunch.  Then I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

“An offer he can’t refuse?” Bertholdt questioned.  “What do you mean?”

“I’ve actually done some research on this Eren kid.  I know something about him that might make him sympathetic.”  She glared at Reiner.  “Or at least sympathetic enough to get in the great white rapist van.”

“Well, we could always put decals on it or something,” said Reiner.  “Like for a fake business or something.”

“Great idea.”  Annie walked up to Reiner and gave him a peck on the cheek.  “So now instead of a mass murdering pedophile, we’ll just look like we’re part of the mafia.”

“C’mon Annie.  Not everyone’s as paranoid as you are.”  Reiner said.

“Okay, okay.  If Eren followed Infinity out of school and into the middle of the forest just moments after meeting him, maybe we’re not dealing with the brightest crayon in the box,” mused Annie.

“So what should we be?” said Bertholdt.  “Some kind of repair, cleaners, delivery, what?”

“Flowers,” said Annie.  “With you two fruits, it’s not a hard sell.”

Annie slid open the side door noting how much room there was inside.  “Reiner, you drive.  Bertl, you’re in the back with me.  Let’s go to that detailing shop down past the highway.”

“Roger that.”  Reiner hopped in the front seat and Bertholdt sat in the bucket seat behind Reiner.

“Do we have everything we need?” said Annie.

“Yeah,” said Bertholdt.  “I packed the serums and the restraints and some tranquilizers.  I should be able to hold him when the time comes.  You’ll just need to be quick with the sedative.”

Annie made sure the front door of the house was locked before she got into the van.  With a rap to the back of Reiner’s headrest, the trio made their way down the road.

xXx

Eren rolled over in the bed and smiled, noting how Levi continued to cling on to his chest.  He unwrapped himself from Levi, and sat up.  He stretched; his shoulder muscles were sore, presumably from last night, which wasn’t a bad thing.

He put a hand on Levi’s head.  “Hey, wake up.”

A single grumpy eye opened.  “Brat, I don’t give a shit if you’re up, but if I’m not, leave me the fuck alone.”

“But you’re supposed to take me to town today!  If it’s three in the afternoon by the time you feel like getting out of bed, I’ll have no time,” said Eren.  “I don’t even know where it is or how long it takes to get there.”

Levi sighed.

“No, it’s okay,” said Eren.  “Nanaba said he’d take me if you weren’t feeling up to it.”

“Nanaba!?”  Levi growled.  “Why would he be taking you anywhere?”  He narrowed his eyes.  “You’ve still got your ears…” he muttered.

Eren reached up and touched them.  “Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?”

Levi glared at him.  “They’re mine,” he said, matter of factly.

Eren crossed his hands over his chest.  “No, they’re mine, and you never seem to want to take them even though I’m not particularly attached to them!  I don’t know what you’re insinuating about Nanaba but—’

“He and Mike have odd tastes,” said Levi. “Now shut up.  Get dressed,”

“Huh?”  Eren was hit in the head with what he wore yesterday.

“I’m taking you to town,” Levi said.  He looked down at his feet.  “On a date.”

Eren felt his entire body blush and a silly smile wormed its way onto his face.  He threw on his clothes, which he still needed to tell Levi that he was in charge of cleaning.  He watched Levi’s methodical way of getting ready, admiring the bits of skin he saw as he dressed.

“Go stand outside the front doors, by where the foyer is.  You know where that is, don’t you?” said Levi.

“Yeah, I met Mike and Nanaba there yesterday,” said Eren.

Levi looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

“What?  You’re the one who left me to wander around this labyrinth without any directions,” chided Eren.

“Last night, you seemed to like what I left to go buy, brat.”  Levi grabbed Eren’s tail and played with the tip.

Eren blushed.

“If somebody didn’t have class, I’d have taken him with me to pick things out so I didn’t have to guess on everything,” Levi whispered in his ear.

Eren furrowed his brow.  “What did you have to guess on?”

Levi looked at him blithely.  “Sizes, colors, tastes, textures.  There’s more in the bag than what I used last night.”

Eren flattened his ears.  “I get to use all of it, right?”

“That was the idea.”  Levi swiftly opened the door and pushed him out of it.

A few of the other pairs had their doors open, with members moving in and out of the hallway.

He was first greeted by Christa who was walking back to her room from breakfast.  “Hey Eren.  Good to see you up and…” she stopped mid sentence.

Connie came over.  “Christa what are you—oh…”  He froze with vaguely the same expression.

“You’re still wearing my clothes?  You better make sure that’s washed when you’re done,” said Jean coming from the back.  “What is everyone looking at?  Wait…oh.”

Eren looked at them funny.  “Good to see you guys, but I gotta go.  Levi’s taking me into town to get new clothes to wear.”

Marco came to his rescue, grabbing his shoulder.  “You two have a good time.”  He walked down the rest of the hallway with Eren past the mass of people.  “Uh, Eren, you do know that you’re sporting some fabulous markings, right?”

“Markings?”  He vaguely remembered Levi saying something about that last night.  When he’d gone to wash up, he hadn’t seen anything really in the old warped mirrors.

The two walked past Hanji and Petra who were eating in the kitchen.

“Whoa, Eren.”  Hanji grabbed a hold of him.  “How far does this go?”  She reached for Eren’s shirt to start unbuttoning.

Petra was giggling incessantly.

Marco pushed Hanji away.  “He doesn’t know,” he said.  “He has no idea what he looks like right now.”

“Really?” asked Petra.  She laughed.  “It’s a good thing Mikasa’s on mission, though I would pay to see her face.”

Eren touched his neck.  “Levi said he had no name to give me, but he could mark me a different way if I had the courage,” he said softly.

Hanji’s eyes grew huge.  “You mean, you let him do that?” 

“And wow, that was even a little romantic if I do say so myself,” said Petra  “You bring out interesting things in that man.”  She twitched her tail.

Marco pulled Eren over towards another room.  “I figured you’d like to see yourself before you left.”

There the back wall of the room was fully mirrored.  Eren stared at his reflection and flushed completely red.  He poked at the bright red and purple bruises that started under his jaw and went down to his collarbone.  A few looked a little like lips.  In some places, he could even see teeth marks.  It definitely didn’t look like that when he looked last night. 

Oh, but it had felt so good to get it!  Just viewing it, he could feel Levi’s mouth and his breath upon his skin.

Eren looked at Marco and cringed.  “Uh, thanks for the heads up.  I’m going to go die now.”

“Nah, it’ll heal.  If you break up the blood clots with a comb, it goes away faster.  I think we’ve all had times where we were a little overzealous.  You should see Christa and Ymir sometimes.”  Marco paused.  “I think the real reason why you got such a reaction from everybody is because Levi is an incredibly discreet person.  Sure, we all know he scratches itches here and there, I mean, he’s a true adult, but this is an open declaration of pairing on his part.”

_Scratches itches here and there?_

“What did you mean by that?” said Eren.  “There are people here that he sees?”

“Hey, it’s not my business, and if he’s committing to you right now, it really isn’t any of yours, is it?”  Marco asked.  “If you’re really concerned, talk to him about it.  Don’t rely on gossip when you can get the truth.”

“You’re right,” said Eren.  “Unless something’s up, it doesn’t matter.”  He sighed.  “He’s waiting for me out front, and I’m gonna have to go to town like this…”

Marco laughed.  “Don’t worry about it.  Just have fun with him.  Make them all jealous.”

Eren grinned.  “I’ll see you guys later.  Tell Jean he doesn’t have to worry about his closet anymore.”

Eren sprinted to the foyer and threw open the doors.  Outside was a black luxury sports car, and the passenger door was kicked open, waiting for him.

“What took you so long?”  Levi complained.  “You get lost, brat?  Need me to hold your hand the whole way there?”

“Maybe I could have gotten somewhere if everybody wasn’t keeping me down trying to stare at all of the places where you tried to take a bite out of my neck,” said Eren.

“I asked if it was all right, you’re the one who said ‘I don’t care, just do it’ so that’s on you.”

Eren slid into the leather seat beside him.  “It’s okay.  I’ll just have to pay you back.”

“How cute.  We’ll match,” he said dryly as he started the car.

Eren surveyed the car around him.  Everything was detailed in black leather and chrome.  Blue light accented the center console and every button.  The seats even had little heaters in them.  He’d only read about cars like these.  He wasn’t the kind of person who saw cars like these let alone the kind of person who rode in one.

“Where on Earth did you get this car?” said Eren.  “It’s amazing.”

“This is Erwin’s car,” said Levi.  “He only uses it at night, so it shouldn’t be a problem if I’m using it now.”

“You mean, you didn’t ask!?” Eren squealed.  “We’ve gotta take this back.”

“Nah, we’re good,” said Levi.  “He owes me.  And if it’s really not okay, he’ll send me on some bullshit mission somewhere until I’ve suffered enough.”

“Really?” asked Eren.

“No,” said Levi.  “Well, kind of.  Nevermind.”

Levi shifted into gear and drove towards the highway that lead into Trost.

xXx

It had been a while since Mikasa and Armin were sent on their way.  Mikasa was strong, but she was just tiny, so Erd ended up strapping Armin to her to keep him in place.  Twenty miles was a long ride, even in good condition. 

Erd and Gunter surveyed the scene.  There was a huge divot in the earth and the trees all around were completely smashed.  All of it was done by brute force from what Gunter could tell.  There wasn’t a sharp edge in sight.

They had argued for the right to bring Mike along, since his nose always gave uncanny intuitions, but someone with attack power needed to stay on the grounds.  Hanji and Petra could fight when needed, but their other skills were too precious to risk right now.  They could pull from the students, but only the Infinity pair was nearing readiness for graduation.

At least the ground had been wet.  Because of the hasty escape, Ruthless had been rather careless, not even bothering to cover their tracks.  Ruthless, they had fought them before. Hubris was a flaw of the fighter and the sacrifice was unsure of himself, so he didn’t always direct his fighter in the best way possible.  So, this kind of retreat suited them, still keeping the battle as some bizarre victory, marching back home instead of creeping like an animal slinking back to its secret lair.

“How far do we follow it?” Gunter asked Erd.

“Let’s see how far it goes,” Erd nodded in the direction of the path.

The two went rather slowly on horseback, not wanting to attract much attention if there was anyone nearby.

The forests changed to swampland.  The swampland became prairie.  After five miles, the trail still stretched in front of them.

“We’re a little exposed,” said Gunther, noting that the tall grasses didn’t quite conceal a human rider.

“I feel like we’re getting close to something,” said Erd.  “It looks like there’s a grove of trees all the way over there.  If you wanna tie up the horses there and go on foot, we might be okay.  They can’t have gone too much farther.”

Gunter squinted into the distance.  “Yeah, I think you’re right.  Civilization starts not too far from here, since they’re just heading due west.”

They tied up the horses and carefully padded through the forest.

“Erd!  I found a well!” said Gunter in a harsh whisper.

“We might have found their base then.  We’ll have to be super careful.”  Erd scratched his head.  “It’s probably best if we split up and circle around where the house is.”

Gunter grabbed his arm.  “No, we fight as a pair.”

Erd smiled fondly and grabbed his hand.  He kissed the _relentless_ written across the palm.  “No, we’re not going to fight at all.  I’ll go to the left, you’ll take the right.  If we don’t meet in the middle, then we meet back here at the well.”

Gunter nodded.  “I’ll see you soon.”

Gunter was the first to find the house.  He looked in the window wells into the basement, but saw nothing but some old boxes and a spindly old chair.  He had reached the back of the house which had a couple windows, but both were covered in thick drapery.  He placed his ear to it, trying to see if there were any sounds inside.   It was eerily silent.  He continued to slink along the wall until he got to a doorway with a screen door.  The screen was incredibly dirty, but from what he could tell, there was hardly anything at all inside.

“Gunter!”  Erd came bounding towards him.  “You’ve gotta see the front.  Don’t worry, this place is abandoned.”

Gunter followed him to find a giant hole in the roof which was now collapsing in on itself.  It was really quite an amazing sight.

“I’m guessing they had to move.  I have no idea what would cause a hole like that though.”  Gunter remarked.

“Me neither, but the front door’s unlocked, so maybe we can see if they left anything behind.”  Erd walked up the porch steps and pushed inside.

“We need to write down this address and find out who owns this place.  Maybe that will lead us to a current hideout.”  Erd pulled a small notepad and pen from his pocket.

“Yeah, regardless Erwin will want to know.” 

Gunter looked at what appeared to be a living room.  He could see the little marks in the floor from what must have been an armchair and a couch.  To the right, in the kitchen, the table had been left behind as well as the chairs.  Even further, there was a hallway with two bedrooms.  One was empty while the other held an old Victorian style desk.

“Hey Erd, there’s something still in this desk.”  He pulled at the drawer on the front, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Lemme try.”  Erd tugged at it…and the knob pulled out.

Gunter got under the desk.  “I’m gonna try and use one of these blades as a lever.” 

He fitted a blade into the tiny space in the back and pressed on it with his foot, using his whole body as leverage.  The drawer screeched as it moved on its track and promptly fell out of the desk.

Erd looked at the papers that were now revealed to him.  He unfolded them, holding them to the light.

“That’s not good,” he said.

Gunter waved away all the dust that he had stirred up and crawled over to his sacrifice.

“These are very detailed blueprints for all of the buildings at Three Walls.”  He passed one to Gunter.  “Look, here’s one for the main building.  Another for the old laboratories.”

“How could they get these?”  Gunter stared at one detailing the utilities complex.  “I mean, I know there’s been talk of a spy, but who would even have copies of this?  Zacklay?  Pixis?”

“I have no idea, but we’ve got to tell Erwin.  This makes it look like they may be planning to attack Three Walls itself,” said Erd.  “It might not be enough anymore to have just us on security.”

Erd huddled against Gunter under the desk.  Gunter put an arm around him, holding him tight.  It had always been like this; Erd never had to speak a word.  Gunter always knew.  They knew their job was the most difficult one out of all of the graduated pairs.  As much as Erd didn’t like it, he knew there was going to be much more blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, for notes on this chapter, I love Annie/Reiner/Bert shenanigans. I want fanart of them in their pedophile/mass murderer/mafia van so bad. 
> 
> And I'd love to see Levi driving something sexy sleek and black. I had an orchestra director tell me as a child that I should never buy a used sportscar...because I don't know where the backseat's been. 
> 
> Ok. I'll shut up now.


	9. Careless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lime this chapter, fluff, then a really bad decision.

Ch 9  Careless

Levi drove through the sidestreets of downtown Trost.  The main drag was filled with shops and restaurants, but the parking was on the sidestreets.  Levi made a swipe into a spot, only to find that one parker was horribly over the line. 

“Tch.  Fucking idiots.  Don’t even know how to park,” he growled as he pulled out of the spot.

Eren pointed to a place on the other side of the street, further down.  “There’s one over there but I don’t think you can get—“

Levi spun the car 180 degrees and cut his way in front of oncoming traffic.  A horn blasted a sour note.  Levi’s middle finger vigorously appeared in the back window.

“Levi!  Are you trying to get us killed?”  Eren said nervously.

Levi shook his head.  “The turn radius on this beast is legendary.  And as for everyone else, they should have been here a second earlier.  You snooze you lose.”  He effortlessly parallel parked into the spot and shifted into park.

Eren got out of the car and ran around to the front.  Levi pushed past him and put coins in the meter.

“How much time do you think we’ll need?” asked Eren.  “I don’t know what’s here at all.  Are we going to eat, too?”

Levi looked at his watch.  “I put in enough for three hours.  Unless your stomach’s sticking to your spine, I’d rather eat later after we buy some stuff.  We can always come back and put more in.”

Eren followed Levi up the sidewalk partially because he didn’t know where he was going and partially because he was enjoying watching Levi move.  It felt good to be with him, to have his focused attention.  In many ways, he couldn’t believe that a guy like Levi would find him attractive; in his 18 years he was never the subject of crushes at school or anything like that, girls or boys.  It was always Mikasa who garnered the attention.  But yet, here he was on what Levi had confirmed this morning was a date.

“Brat, get up here,” said Levi.

“Huh?”  Eren quickly stepped forward.

“I know my ass is amazing to stare at, but I’d rather have you here with me.  It’s kinda weird otherwise.”

Now Eren was shoulder to shoulder with him.  He kept seeing the swing of Levi’s arm in the corner of his eye.  Eren chided himself for not having the balls to just do normal date things.  After all, Levi had probably been on millions of dates and he wouldn’t hesitate.  Eren blushed.

“Levi,” he asked.

“Yes?” he replied.

“Do you mind if we…”

“Do I mind if we what?”

Eren grabbed Levi’s hand and held it in his own.  Levi bit his lip trying to hide his smile.

“So you’re telling me that after I played with your ass and jacked you off, you think I’m afraid of just plain old holding hands.”  He shook his head.  “I really don’t get you sometimes.”

Eren’s face went white and he looked around to see if there was anybody there to hear their conversation.  They were the only ones on the street, to his great relief. 

“It was more about showing affection in a public place,” Eren clarified.  “I don’t know how you feel about that kind of stuff.  And two men in public…”

“I know.  It was just more fun to see you react.”  Levi held his hand firmly.  “I’m fine with a little bit.  Casually holding my hand or arm is good.  Hanging all over me, not so much.  Basically, ask yourself if you’ve seen Hanji do it to Petra.  If the answer is yes…you probably shouldn’t do it.”

Eren thought about how Hanji practically sat on Petra at dinner, her enthusiastic running, jumping hugs, and the random showers of kisses.  Yes, that definitely didn’t seem like something that Levi would deal well with.  But still, he felt relieved that Levi didn’t mind some contact outside of what he poured on in the bedroom.

“I think I can understand that,” said Eren.  “You can still be close to someone without smothering them.”

Eren concentrated on his hand.  Levi was always impossibly warm.  His body was absolutely incredible; maybe it was the sheer amount of muscle on him?  He continued to walk with Levi onto the main street, his head aloft with loopy thoughts, like how he had no idea that it was possible to feel this good at one time.  They caught the eyes of those passing by; he was getting used to the idea that he was a half of an attractive couple.  

Levi turned into a shop on their left, pulling Eren in with him.  Eren took a look at the wares and balked.

“I don’t have enough money to shop at a place like this.  If you tell me what’s around here, I’m sure I can get myself to the right places.”

Levi flashed a silver colored card before his eyes.  “My treat,” he said, nonchalantly.

“What!?” said Eren.

Levi put the card back in his wallet.  “Fine, you got me.  It’s Erwin’s treat.  This card is for the Three Walls expense account.”

“Is this is really okay?  Like, we don’t have to stay under a certain amount, or anything like that?”

Levi crossed his hands over his chest.  “You’re getting the standard issue.  2 weeks worth of clothing for the season, shoes to supplement what you wore here, a jacket or something for colder weather, accessories within reason.  Non-clothing-wise we need to get you a new cell phone on our plan, any toiletries that you lack, and anything personal you require, like perhaps a journal or sketchbook.”

“Oh wow,” said Eren.  “That’s a lot more than I expected.”

“Just shut up and let me find things for you.”  Levi pulled him towards the center of the store and began deftly snatching up items from the tables and grabbing other things off of racks.  Eren was astonished; it was like Levi wasn’t even looking at what he was doing.

“Don’t I have any say in this, sir?”

Levi looked at him dumbfounded.  “I’m picking up a fuckton of stuff.  You’ll try it on and we’ll see what looks good.  How else did you think this was gonna go?”

“What about this?”  Eren held up a shirt.

“You’re kidding, right?”  Levi looked at him eyebrows raised.  “That color washes out your skin.”

“But I like this color!” said Eren.

“Brat, just trust me on this.  I’m the one who fucking has to look at you.”  Levi looked at Eren with shifty eyes.  “Besides, if I don’t do it right, I’ll piss off Petra.”

A store attendant came by asking if they needed a dressing room.  Levi handed him the mountain of clothing and began picking up even more things.  Soon Levi had combed over the entire store and he dragged Eren back into the corner where there were three doors; one had an outfit hanging on the front hook.

“I’m guessing that one’s mine,” said Eren.  “So, I’ll see you when I’m done?”

Levi rolled his eyes.  “Get in.”  He pushed the door open and thrust Eren through it.  After picking up the clothing  on the front hook, he shut the door behind him.

Eren was startled at the size of the room.  That and the fact that there was a rack filled with all kinds of accessories: shoes, hats, ties, coats, colognes.

“What the hell kind of a place is this?”  Eren stared at him quizzically.

“You’re freaking out over a moderately upscale environment.  Don’t worry, we won’t be doing this kind of thing every day.  I grew up slumming it, so I do have an idea of how you feel.”  He held out some clothing and handed it to Eren.  “Put this on.”

Levi prowled over to the armchair in the corner of the room and sat down with his legs crossed.  He watched Eren remove his clothes piece by piece.  Eren occasionally looked over to see whether Levi was staring at him; each time their eyes met, Eren blushed a little.  Levi suppressed a smile.

Eren turned back to him, dressed.  “So, what do you think?”

The green in the shirt intensified the green of his eyes.  Levi held him in his gaze.  “Sometimes I wonder if the color of your eyes is even real.”

Eren looked at him strangely.  “Of course it’s real.  You’ve just been staring everywhere else on my body instead.”  He sighed.  “I take it, that’s a yes?”

“Do you like it?” said Levi.  “I appreciate you wanting to please me, but I’ll be pissed if you don’t pay attention to yourself.”

He saw Eren relax visibly.  “The shirt is very comfortable, but the pants kind of ummm…cut up the crotch a little.”

“There, see how easy that was?” Levi breathed.  “Now give me what you have.”

Eren undressed and handed everything to Levi, who promptly folded everything and put them on either side of him.  Left side was yes; right side was no.  He then handed Eren something different.

The two of them repeated this cycle over and over, outfit after outfit, until nothing else remained.

“Brat, that’s all.  I don’t have anything else to give you.  Get dressed.”

Eren stared at him.  He loved the spread out, powerful looking posture Levi had in that chair.  He was starting to be able to read Levi’s face better.  It looked a lot like his default morose expression that he wore neutrally, but he could see the want that hid behind his eyes, at the corners of his mouth was a hint of a satisfied smile that would never be expressed.

Eren looked at the door.  It was a true door, not one of those ones cheap store ones that only covered half of the body, and it had a real knob instead of a latch.  A portion up top was removed and replaced with a woven wooden screen, probably so that an attendant could talk to you through the door.

Eren walked up to the chair and uncrossed Levi’s legs.  He fell down to his knees, running his hands up Levi’s thighs.  He got to his hips and slid his hands inward to undo the button of the pants.  Levi’s eyes flashed as he realized what was going on, but he quickly regained composure.  He lifted Eren’s head to look at him.

“Is this the same man who was shitting himself over just holding my hand?  You’ve grown bold.”  Levi raised an eyebrow.  “Do you have any clue how to do what it seems like you’re going to do?”

Eren stared at him earnestly.  “I’ve read some things.  I’ve seen some videos.  And then you did that stuff to my fingers.”  Eren blushed.  “I never thought I’d be the one doing it though.  So, uh, that’s new.”

Levi smirked.  He pet Eren’s ears.  “Two things.”  Levi reached over and tugged down Eren’s underwear.  Eren looked at him confused and so he bent down and kissed his forehead.  “I’m facing a mirror and I’d like to see all of you from more angles.”

Eren looked behind him to see his bare ass in the mirror.  In fact, every wall was mirrored, and it threatened to show every bit of him.  He spread his legs a little farther apart which earned him a sigh of approval.  Eren closed his eyes.  His heart was pounding in his chest, so loud in his ears he was sure Levi could hear it.  “Ok, now what’s the second thing?”

Levi held Eren’s face between his palms.  “The second’s the most important one.  Watch your fucking teeth.”

Eren’s eyes grew wide.  “Yeah, good tip,” he stammered.  What had once been an impulse and an idea was now beginning to feel a bit like a mountain.

Levi grabbed his chin before he looked down.  “You don’t have to do this if you don’t wanna do it, okay?  You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Eren tugged on the zipper and rubbed his palm against Levi.  “No, I want to.”  He flattened his ears.  “I’ll probably be the worst you’ve ever had, but still, I want to try.”

Levi smiled and shook his head.  “Nah, I’ve already had the worst blowjob in the history of blowjobs.  You’ll do fine.” 

Levi pushed himself up and slid his clothes down over his ass.  Eren’s eyes grew large at the sight of his half-hardened cock.  He took it in his hands and began to lick from base to tip, starting from the underside, moving around his circumference.  The breath hitched in Levi’s throat each time the tip of Eren’s tongue flicked over the edge of the head.  He was now fully hard and threatening to burst under Eren’s touch.

Eren did one final stroke along the bottom, running his tongue over the intricate bridges of skin at the underside of the head, finishing with the tip of his tongue probing into his slit.   Eren looked Levi straight in the eyes as he took the head into his mouth, and then took more.  He pulled up and sucked lightly on the head before taking him in again more deeply.  Eren didn’t break eye contact as he continued to work up and down the shaft.  Levi could feel his body growing hot, the warmth in his chest and the pinkening of his cheeks.  Eren’s gaze on him was just as arousing as what the boy was doing to his body physically.

He looked away only to see his face in the mirror, already fixed in an aroused expression, blushed.  And there too on all of the walls was Eren’s body, his muscles flexing as he worked his hands and mouth over his length, his bare ass inviting.  A little noise escaped from Levi’s throat and he gripped the arms of the chair.  Eren started to move in a faster rhythm, and Levi began to pant.  He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up much longer, and he had a feeling that Eren wouldn’t either.

Levi looked back at Eren who stared back at him with determined eyes.  “Suck me harder and make me cum,” he said in between breaths.

Eren worked his tongue harder and got even faster.  Levi’s mouth opened but he stayed quiet as he could, moaning as lightly as he could bear to do.  He pushed hard on the ground and on the arms of the chair as he got closer and closer.

“Fuck.  I’m cumming!” he hissed.  He stared at Eren desperately, his body shaking as he came in Eren’s mouth.  He lay back, catching his breath as he sat there spent.  Eren’s eyes were huge and surprised as his lips were still locked around him.

Levi shoved a hand into a pocket.  “You don’t have to swallow, I have some tissues you can—“

He closed his eyes as he felt Eren swallow against the head of his cock.  Eren sucked as he pulled back to release Levi from his mouth.  Levi opened his eyes to see Eren licking his lips, and fuck if it wasn’t one of the sexiest things he had ever seen.

“I’m fine,” Eren finally said.  “Not a bad taste…though I wouldn’t say that I know much about how it should taste.”

Levi bent forward and stroked Eren’s hair.  “Good head isn’t rocket science.  You sure as hell made me cum.”

Eren smiled.  “Yeah, but I bet you could get me off in under 30 seconds.”

“Yeah, me too,” said Levi

It took Eren a moment to register.  “Hey!”

Levi pulled his pants back up and buttoned them.  He looked at Eren who was still naked and on his knees.  “Hey brat, are you gonna get dressed or do you have other kinks I should be worried about?”

“Right.”  Eren scrambled into his clothing as quickly as he could.

Levi handed Eren a mountain of clothing and took the smaller bunch for himself.  Levi opened the door and found an attendant.

“We’ll be taking these,” said Levi.  He pointed to Eren.  “He’s holding the rejects.”

Eren nodded and helped to transfer everything over to the attendant while Levi strode up to the register and paid.

“Here.”

Levi shoved three bags into Eren’s hands.  Eren looked at him quizzically.

“What?” said Levi.  “They’re your clothes.”  He paused.  “I may be your boyfriend, but be a man and carry your own bags!”

_Boyfriend._   It was such a strange word to hear, but it made his heart feel as if it were flying.  His fingers that held the bags grew weak like jelly.

“Actually, can you this one?”  Eren asked.  “I still want one hand to hold on to you.”

Levi’s face softened a bit before it went back to its severe default expression.  He took the bag, grasped Eren’s free hand and led out the door.

“Geez.  You’re so sappy,” said Levi, shaking his head.  “Let’s put these in the car so we can pick up more things.”

The time Eren spent with Levi paradoxically flew by and held him in each moment.  They visited a few more stores to finish off the clothing and shoes.  Levi bought him his own set of towels and everything else he needed in the bath, probably since the night before Eren had to borrow Levi’s things.  The second desk in their room had yet to be cleaned out, but they bought pens, pencils, and notebooks—Levi said he’d help.  Eren was floored when Levi let him choose a sleek new smart phone…and programmed his number directly into it.

“Anything else you need?”  Levi asked.  “I mean as fun as it is to be out, I dunno about you, but being out around all these people gets…tiring.”

Eren grabbed his arm.  “We’ll have to go somewhere for you, then.  Where do you like to go?”

“Nowhere, really.”  Levi shook his head.  “I do like driving Erwin’s car, though.  Sometimes I’ll just drive it around, highways, back country roads, anywhere I can go fast.”

“I can see why, it’s nice.  Can’t believe he lets you just take it.”

“He’s an old friend of mine.  We’re part of the same generation of fighters.  Difference is he got a promotion and I didn’t.”

“What happened?”

“Brat, I dunno how much of that I can tell you.”  Levi’s eyes grew distant.  “But don’t take that personally.  There’s shit going on within Three Walls that I don’t even know about.”

“But I mean, I don’t even know the stuff that everybody else knows.  Like what does Erwin even do?” Eren said, frustrated.

“Oh, that kind of stuff, I can tell you.”  Levi sat down on a nearby street bench, under a tree.  “Three Walls technically refers to the three administrators that oversee the spellcasting pairs in this area of the world.  Dallis Zacklay is the man who is our figurehead in the outside world.  Back in his heyday, he was a very powerful sacrifice.  The reason why you have money to spend is because of him.  He manages contracts with law enforcement and the government.”

“Contracts?”  Eren asked.

“Yeah.  If you think that there aren’t spellcasters doing the dirty work of other people, you’d be an idiot,” Levi answered.  “Also, if anybody goes rogue or there’s evidence of an unknown pair, it’s not a police force that takes them out.”

“Oh, wow.  I guess that makes sense.”

Levi continued.  “Our second in command is Dot Pixis.  He is a fighter, he was a blank like me.  He is in charge of strategic operations and the resources of Three Walls.  It’s best to say that Zacklay gets the jobs and the money, then Pixis plans the missions and spends the dough.”

“And Erwin?”

“Erwin is third in line.  He is in charge of personnel and talent scouting.  It’s why you’ll see him teaching.  He knows all of us and our abilities well, and is involved in sending the right people to do the right job.”

“So that’s why you were sent to me.”  Eren pondered the new knowledge. 

“Yeah.  Your sister uncovered information involving you on a reconnaissance mission.  Pixis was ultimately informed and he told Erwin to dispatch the most suitable people for a recovery mission.  Since you are a sacrifice by right of birth, Erwin thought it’d be best to send the highest ranked Infinity fighter.  He’d have sent Mikasa like she requested, but he was afraid of what your emotional response to seeing her would have been.”

“He turned down my sister?”  Eren exclaimed.  Then he paused.  “That’s actually a very cool-headed decision.”

“If I’ve learned anything in the decades I’ve known him, it’s that he’s incredibly smart.  I’d trust him with my life, and so should you.”

Eren weaved his fingers together.  “He said he wanted to meet with me personally.”

“Yeah, he makes sure to get to know everyone.  But, if you’re pairing with me, he’ll probably take over your training at some point.”

“But he’s a fighter.  What can he teach me?  Isn’t learning from Petra a better idea?”  Eren searched Levi’s face.  He looked uncomfortable, his gaze off to the side.

“No, Petra’s too soft, so Hanji won’t hit you hard enough.”  Levi finally met Eren’s inquisitive eyes.  “He’ll teach the one thing a fighter can teach another’s sacrifice.  How to bear a great deal of pain with ease.”

Eren’s eyes went wide.  He took a deep breath.

Levi looked at him calmly.  “Don’t worry, I’ll be there.  It’s part of my training that I watch and do nothing.”

Eren fell against Levi’s side.  “Is all this really necessary?”

“Trust me, you’ll thank him when it’s over,” Levi said.  “And it’s been a while since I’ve been tested.  There’s a certain feeling of…wrong whenever another fighter touches your own sacrifice.”

“But you touch other people’s sacrifices all the time.”  He was an Infinity, after all.

“I know.  At the end of a lot of missions, I’m not everybody’s favorite person.  Things can get tense, I won’t lie to you,” said Levi.  “Of course, we’ll have to be bound by name before any of this can happen.  A recommendation from Hanji and Petra should help.  I’m going to declare you as my official sacrifice to Erwin, regardless of whether or not he allows you into the Infinity program.”

“What if I’m not cut out to be an Infinity?  I mean, you just form connections quickly and easily.”  Eren said.

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard from the virtuoso wonderboy pair, but It doesn’t happen easily,” Levi retorted.  “I work really hard to form a connection that sticks.  I entered the Infinity program when I was 15 years old, younger than you.  I have had all of that time to practice forcing connections on others.”

That somehow made Eren feel a lot better.  Though, he had to wonder why he used the word ‘forcing’.

“You keep throwing these numbers out, but how old are you?”

“Age is just a number, brat,” Levi said.

“Gimme a hint!  You don’t look any older than any of the other “older” fighting pairs.”

“I’ll just say that I’m older than Mike and younger than Erwin.”

“So what, that’s like 29?  30?  Am I close?”

“Yeah, sure, as in it’s a number.”

Eren still looked at him a little shellshocked.  “Older!?” 

“C’mon.  Get your barely legal ass over here,” Levi grumbled.  “Let’s put the rest of the stuff in the car.”

After everything was packed in, Levi looked at his watch.  He put a few more coins in the parking meter.

“Eren, there’s an Italian restaurant with a blue door down the street, I forget what it’s called.  I want you to get us a table.  I forgot something that I needed to pick up.

xXx

Annie sipped at her coffee as she sat at one of the outside tables at the café.  She stared at her prey who sat on the quaint little bench across the street.  They were nauseating.  Sure, she did her fair share of cuddling with Reiner and Bertholdt, but it’s different when you’re the one in someone else’s hands.

She picked up her cell phone.  “Yeah, they’re still on the street.  If it’s anything like the other bajillion times they’ve gone into a store, they’ll drop off the goods and go back out.”

She sighed.  “I can’t just go up there and grab Eren and pull him down an alley or something.  The opportunity will present itself.  It’s not my fault that you’re born with a fire under your ass, Reiner.”

She hung up as she watched the couple walk back to the car and then Levi went back down around the corner, back facing her and Eren turned the other way, approaching her table.

“I’ll call you back.  I think I see my window.”  Annie hung up on Reiner.

Eren walked right past her without any recognition.  The glasses and hat she bought in the morning made her look like a movie star in hiding, but that was okay.  She slid in behind him on the sidewalk following him down to wherever he was going, but she noted that a few meters ahead of her next to an Italian restaurant, was a small alley.

“Eren Jaeger,” she called out in a harsh whisper as she reached the entrance of the alley.

Eren froze.  “I know that voice.”  He paused.  “You’re Heartless.”

“I know,” she said.  “We didn’t meet under the friendliest circumstances.  Just know I’m not here to fight you or Infinity.”

“Then we have nothing more to say to each other.”  Eren took a step forward.

“Wait” Annie grabbed his wrist.  “What if I told you that Three Walls is hiding information from you.  That Infinity isn’t telling you things.”

Eren turned to look at her.  “There are things I don’t know because it’s not important or it’s not safe for me to know.  Are you asking me to betray that trust?”

“Does that include the information pertaining to your father?” Annie intoned thoughtfully.

Eren’s eyes widened.  “My father?  He’s been gone for years! “

Annie pulled him further down the alley.  “I can’t talk about it here, but if you come with me, we’ll tell you everything.”

Eren shook his head.  “You can’t honestly expect me to just come with you.  At least let me go get Levi and you can take us both.”

“No.  He won’t understand.”  Annie barked.  “He’s fought against us for the past 3 years.  All he knows is how to attack.  Besides he already knows this stuff.  He’s the one keeping it from you.”

Annie crossed her hands across her chest.  She needed to think of something to close the deal, and fast.

Annie took off her sunglasses so that she could stare unimpeded into Eren’s eyes.  “Just come with me.  Call Infinity when you’re in our car.  Tell him that you’ll be gone for a few minutes.  Then we’ll drop you off directly to him when we’re done.”

“I don’t know,” said Eren.  The struggle was written across his face.

“What are you so afraid of?” said Annie.  “If we’re lying, he’d kill us all to get you back.  If you can’t put faith in us, then put your trust in him.  Or is that something even you can’t do?”

Annie watched her statement sink into his brain.  Oh, this was a good one.

“Fine.  I’ll do it,” said Eren.  “Where do we have to go?”

“Nowhere,” said Annie.  She picked up her phone.

“Reiner, get over here now.  Quick, before somebody comes by!”

A white van with a decal on the side proclaiming “Trost Creative Floral Design” slid into the spot in front of him.  The side door swung open to reveal one very tall boy in the middle bench seat and athletic looking blond man in the driver’s seat.  They smiled at him welcomingly, but the one in the back seemed somehow nervous and the one in the front had a predatory aura.  Annie pushed Eren into the bench seat and sat down beside him before closing the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10 points if you can guess who the world's worst blowjob belongs to. There is a story behind that one. Lol. I love this universe.


	10. Helpless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this story. I moved 3,000 miles across the country with 2 weeks notice, then I had a month to find a place to live...and then after that I got tired of being hella broke, so I went looking for a job and finally found one. I teach university level English composition online now! So yeah! I've been a crazy busy thing and I'm sorry. Updates for both of my SnK fics should come faster now.
> 
> Now the plot thickens!

Ch 10:  Helpless

Eren looked around the interior of the van.  It was nothing special, bare bones even.  Annie shoved him closer to the boy beside him.

“See.  This isn’t that bad, is it?”  Annie locked the doors of the van.  “These are my colleagues and two best friends, Reiner and Bertholdt.  You know how you have your own little “family” back at Three Walls?  Well, this is mine.”

Eren looked around at everyone.  Based on the looks exchanged, he wouldn’t have chosen the word “friends” to describe them.  Regardless of what was between the three of them, he could tell that Reiner and Bertholdt must be a fighting pair.  He regarded Bertholdt beside him.  “Are you the sacrifice?”

He nodded.  “I know you are, too.  Just like your dad,” he said, smiling.

“Wait, my Dad’s a sacrifice?”  Eren stared at him, awestruck.

“Yeah, he doesn’t battle anymore because his fighter moved on to do other things with his life,” said Bertholdt.

“That’s actually one of the reasons why he developed the Infinity series,” quipped Reiner from the front.

Eren felt as if someone had reached out and squeezed his heart.

“See, I told you that your partner already knew all of this,” said Annie dryly.

Eren held his head in his hands.  Levi knew his father—no was engineered by his father?  “This doesn’t make any sense.  Where has he been the past 3 years?”

“He’s been with us,” said Annie.  “He was an administrator at Three Walls for a while, but he didn’t agree with their policies.”

“Yeah, we’re all Three Walls rejects,” Reiner said with a laugh.  “I’m sure you’ve had nothing but good experiences with Three Walls, but that’s because you fit the profile.”

“Rejects?  But you seem like you all have training.”

“Yeah, your dad saw to that,” said Bertholdt.  He patted Eren on the back.  “Spellcasters who lack certain “qualities” tend to end up in secret laboratories, or worse.  The general public might know nothing about us, but the governments of the world are all too in control of a spellcaster’s life.”

“Why tell me all this?  Why not have my father tell me himself?” Eren said, frustrated.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Annie.  “He’s a wanted man.  And as to why we’d tell you…it’s so that you’d join us.”

Eren took a deep breath.  The world around him that he knew had eroded away only days before, and was now threatening to do it again.  This couldn’t all be true, could it?

“I-I need time to think about it.  To research on my own,” Eren said.  “Based on your words, I don’t know if I can trust Three Walls but at the same time, I don’t know if I can trust you.”

He jumped as Annie reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone.  She started pressing numbers.  “Here, this is my cell.  Call it anytime you have a question.  Do your own research and see how it matches up with anything we tell you.  Ask us about anything they refuse to tell you.”

“Thanks.  I don’t really know what to say or how to feel right now.”  Eren breathed.  “Last time I saw you, you were trying to kill me.”

“Not kill,” said Annie with a scowl.  “I was just trying to incapacitate you to bring you in. Nothing personal.  I’m not like how Reiner is with Infinity.  I don’t do catfights.”

“We do not have catfights!” insisted Reiner.  “It is a legitimate rivalry.”

“Yeah, you cast spells until one of you breaks a nail, then you run away and hide and mutter about how you almost got him like some crazy bum who lives under a bridge,” Annie snapped.  “Nope, not a catfight.”

Eren regarded the scene in front of him with disbelief.  Three Walls was afraid of _them_?

Eren felt Bertholdt’s hand patting his shoulder.  “Yes, it’s always like this.  No, we’re not a thing to be feared.  If you can look past the ugly parts, you can have a place here, too,” Bertholdt whispered.

“You seem a bit more…”  Eren trailed off.  The van was filled with the sound of Annie and Reiner reaming each other.

“Well, yeah.  You haven’t spent much time in the culture, but we’re sacrifices.  Fighters…fighters are always drama.”  That nervous look returned to Bertholdt’s eyes.  “Especially yours.”  He covered his mouth.  “Sorry, I say the wrong things sometimes.  D-don’t pay too much attention to me.”

“Bertl,” Annie said sweetly.  “You never say the wrong things.  Now, let’s get on with this.”

Bertholdt nodded and reached into a bag at his feet and passed a syringe to Annie.

Eren looked at them strangely.  “What is that?”

“Your father wanted us to give you something special that he designed himself.  It will only take a few moments,” Annie said.

“I didn’t agree to that…”  Eren tried to grab it from out of her hands.

“Bertl, grab him.”  Eren felt as if he was being stretched out on a giant frame.

“Oh shit!”  said Reiner.  “We gotta go!”

“What!?”  Annie growled.

“Infinity saw me.  And of course he’s noticed Eren’s not there!  I’m getting on the road.”

“Fucking a,” she hissed.  “Bertl hold him.  I need this in the vein.”

Annie jumped and straddled Eren’s hips and grasped one of his elbows.  She quickly found a vein under her fingers and jabbed in the needle, injecting the sedative.  She put her hands around Eren’s panicked face.

“Calm down.  That’s a medicine to calm you down among other things.  I was afraid that this was going to happen, but it will be okay.”

Bertholdt held Eren in place until the muscles of his body gave way, Eren gone to jelly in his hands.  Bertholdt breathed a sigh of relief and reached in the bag for the rest.  He pulled out three larger syringes.

“Imagine having the freedom to fight without a fighter.  To possess the ability to depend only on yourself.”

Eren watched her move over his body, like he was watching it all happen on a movie screen.  She took another syringe from Bertholdt and plunged it into the muscle of his upper arm.  It burned as she ejected the contents into his body.

“You won’t need Infinity.  Instead of requiring him, you can stand with him as an equal in fighting ability.  Choose who you want to be with; don’t let fate decide.  Be more than just your name.”

She reached for the 2nd syringe and injected that one into his other arm.

“We’ve given you a titan that your father designed just for you.  When the time comes to use it, you’ll know what to do.  Use this.”  Annie shoved a pocketknife with a pearl handle into his pocket.

Eren groaned.  He felt like white hot fire was rushing around in his veins.  His head throbbed and his vision blurred.  He tried to move, but Bertholdt held him tight, and even if he wasn’t, he was sure that there had been a muscle relaxer in the first injection so he was as good as rubber.

“See, it’s okay.”  Annie’s cold hands were a stark contrast on his fevered skin.  It was so unlike Levi’s touch, so wrong.  A single tear rolled down his cheek.

Another needle was stuck into him.  “This will hold the memories back for a while.  But when you finally remember, come find us after you’ve found your own truths.”

Eren slumped down in the seat completely unconscious.  Bertholdt let go of him and propped him up a bit.

“Now what,” said Bertholdt.  “You can probably call Infinity using Eren’s cell phone.”

“Uh, guys?” said Reiner.  “I think Infinity is trying to catch up to us.”

He looked in his mirrors to see the black coupe passing a truck that was three cars behind him.  “Do I just keep driving or what?”

Annie looked out the back window.  “Damn it.  We never had Eren call in the first place.  Just keep driving.  Let’s try to get away so we can leave Eren somewhere for him.”

Bertholdt grabbed Eren’s phone.  “Huh, there’s only one other number on here besides yours, Annie.  Levi, huh.  I can never remember Infinity’s given name.”

Annie took the phone and called Levi’s number.  Nobody picked up.  “Guys, he’s not answering.  I’ll call again.”

Levi sped through the passing lane and got in directly behind the trio’s van.  Levi blared the horn.

“Oh shit.  He’s here.”

“Hold on guys,” said Reiner. 

He floored the pedal and turned off on a rural highway.  Levi spun around after him, swiftly tailing him again.

“Go faster!”  Annie hissed.

“I’m trying, but this road’s in terrible shape.”  Reiner fought to hold the steering wheel straight.  “Fuck.  Here he comes.”

Levi pulled his car to the side of the van so that he was eye to eye with Reiner.  Reiner slammed the van into the side of the car.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” said Annie.

“Well, with the decal job, it’s not like we were getting any money back from the rental.”

Bertholdt put a hand on each of them.  “It’s not time to fight, we just have to—“

Levi rammed the van with his car so hard, Reiner veered off road for a little bit.  Reiner grinned.

“Allright asshole.  You’re on.”  He hit the side of the car again.  “This guy’s unbelievable.  He’s doing this even with Eren inside.”

“Fucking catfight,” Annie muttered under her breath.  She flattened her ears.  “He probably doesn’t realize we _have_ Eren, dumbass.  Like, make a phone symbol at him or something so I can call him again.”

The van was rocked by another hit.

“I don’t think he gives a shit,” said Reiner.  “I have one last plan.”

Reiner steered over so that the van was grinding against the car.  The mass of the van was higher, so he was winning.  He pushed him across the road.  Levi tried to slide back behind them but Reiner hit him with a burst of speed.  The lighter sportscar sailed into a tree—the front end pleating like an alligator.

“Holy shit,” breathed Reiner.

“Are you insane?  If you just killed him, how the hell are we supposed to justify this to Eren?”  Annie looked as if she was going to breathe fire.  “Turn around!”

“But weren’t we running from him?”  Reiner asked.

Bertholdt sunk back into his seat, holding his head.  “Reiner, turn around.”

Reiner sighed.  “Okay, fine.  He couldn’t do anything against us anyway.  Sorry Bertl, we’re all a little tense.”

Reiner pulled a three point turn and drove back to where the wreck was.  The front of the car was completely destroyed as well as the side.  The airbag had deployed, and Levi still sat in the wreck, mouth partially opened in surprise.

Annie jumped out of the side door that wasn’t mashed in and opened Levi’s door.  Bertholdt picked him up and lifted him out, laying him down on a patch of grass.  Levi looked at them all with confusion.

“Why the hell are you touching me?”  Levi slurred.  He made some vague attempts to struggle away, but couldn’t seem to act with enough coordination.

Annie looked in his eyes.  “He’s got a concussion.  I can tell you that much.  He hit his head hard.”

“Hey, Infinity,” she said.  “Do you know who we are?”

Levi pointed at Reiner.  “He’s a part of Ruthless.  But if he was a part of Ruthless, he wouldn’t be here right now, the fucking spineless bastard.”

Bertholdt started laughing. 

“You too, you’re Ruthless,” said Levi.  “How can you stand to take it up the ass from someone like that?”

Now it was Annie’s turn to laugh.  “Bertl, why don’t you go get Eren?” 

She knelt in the grass next to Levi and held up two fingers.  “How many fingers am I holding up?”

He squinted at her hand.  “Four…I think.”  Levi scratched the back of his head.  “Man, hurts like a bitch.”

Bertholdt carried Eren in princess style and laid him down right beside Levi.

“What the fuck did you do to him?”  Levi screamed.

“He’s fine.  He’ll wake up, maybe sometime tomorrow, but he’ll be fine,” said Annie.

“You!”  Recognition finally flashed through Levi’s eyes.  “You’re Heartless.  You’ve made the wrong—“

Bertholdt socked him in the side of the head, rendering him unconscious.

“Bertl!  What are you doing?  He already has a concussion!  We don’t need to be hurting him more!”

Bertholdt grabbed Annie and Reiner and marched them over to the van.  “I don’t know how long he’s gonna stay out for, so let’s get moving.”

“What?” said Annie as she was pulled along behind him.

“Are you okay Bertl?” asked Reiner.  He promptly got into the front seat and started the car.

“Annie,” Bertholdt said.  “Infinity used a banishing spell on you last battle.”

“Yeah,” she said.  “You guys watched me drop in through the ceiling.”

“Since he merely banished you, technically your battle with him is still open.  He knew it and who knows what he would have done if he started spellcasting in that state!  It’s what he was planning to do.  He could have hurt you, hurt himself, hurt Eren, or anyone.  Then where would we be?”  Bertholdt cried.

Reiner got on the road and quickly picked up speed.

The three of them sat in silence for a while.  Something had come loose on the van and was rattling with each bump in the road.

Annie broke the ice.  “Good call Bertl.  Infinity’s the type that holds on to things.  Until it’s okay to fight him, I’ll steer clear.”

“Yeah, sometimes I don’t know what we’d do without you,” said Reiner.  “It’s like you have to be the sacrifice for two fighters at the same time.  Sorry you have to put up with all our shit all the time.”

“It’s really not that hard.”  Bertholdt blushed.  “Only with you guys am I strong.”

Annie grabbed onto him and buried her face in his shoulder.  Bertholdt reached out and put an arm around Reiner, pulling Annie with him.

“I guess one of us should call Ymir?” said Annie.  “You know, so she can let us know how they’re doing, and so that she knows to watch Eren.”

“That and we need to call boss to let him know that we were successful with Eren.  I don’t think he’ll be too happy about the van though…” said Reiner.

“Fuck it,” said Annie.  “Tell him some other night.  Tonight let’s just have some fun.  All by ourselves.”

xXx

Levi woke up, his head pounding.  He rubbed his forehead, but it did nothing.  He looked around him to see Erwin’s car with the nose buried deeply in a tree.  This did not look good.  Levi rolled over, finding Eren lying in the grass.  He quickly ran a hand over Eren’s face.  He was warm.  He could feel the tickle of his breath across his skin.  On Eren’s neck he checked the pulse.  It was normal.

He shook Eren.  “Hey.  Are you asleep or unconscious?”

Eren just flopped whatever way Levi pushed him.

“Unconscious.  I was afraid of that,” he muttered.

Levi noted that there hadn’t been any cars on the road for the whole time he’d been awake.  Unsteadily, he pulled himself up on the car.  The road didn’t look like anywhere he knew.  But then again, when he wasn’t driving for work, he was driving at night, so who knows if he’d been here or not.

But how had he gotten here?  Why was he on the ground laid out with Eren instead of both of them in the car?  He had very obviously been in a car accident—he had bruises, scratches, whiplash and a massive headache.  But Eren, he had nothing of the sort.  Gingerly, Levi looked on the other side of the tree to see fresh tire tracks on the earth beside the road.  This was just getting weirder.

Levi sat back down next to Eren, deep in thought.  He pulled his phone from his pocket which was thankfully undamaged and went through his recent calls.  Eren had called him, and not just once like he did at the store to share his number.  He opened the menu for his contacts and pressed a button.

He cursed as the phone rang and went to voice mail.  He called again, and this time someone picked up.

“Hanji,” he said.  “Hanji…I fucked up.”

Hanji’s voice was gentle.  “No, Eren likes you a great deal.  I’m sure you can fix it.”  She squeed.  “I can’t believe you came to me!”

“No, damn it!”  Levi pulled at his hair.  “I mean I don’t know where the fuck I am!  I don’t know how the fuck I got here!  Eren is fucking unconscious next to me, and there is a big-ass tree embedded into the hood of Erwin’s car!”

“Oh, well then.  That’s a different problem entirely,” said Hanji.  “What do you need?”

“I need you to not tell Erwin until I figure out what to say,” Levi cringed.

Hanji didn’t envy him.  “Noted.  Anything else?”

“I know I have some kind of head injury, but I have no idea what’s happened to Eren.  Come and get us.  Don’t tell anyone.”

“Sure, Petra and I will—“

“Don’t you dare bring Petra.  If we need a spell that powerful, she can help you back at Three Walls,”  Levi warned.

“Levi, she’s still recovering from healing Armin.  I can’t just leave her here,” said Hanji.  “You wouldn’t leave Eren would you?”

“Ask her if she’ll be okay for a couple hours.  And if she’s too weak, call in Jean.  Just make up something to tell him,” Levi pleaded.

“Levi, either I’m bringing Petra or you’re asking Erwin for a ride home instead.”  Hanji sighed.  “She’s not gonna believe ‘I fell down the stairs’ when she fixes your concussion, so what does it matter?”

“Fine.  You don’t have to be an ass,” he spat.

“I’m just going to trace your phone location through GPS.  I’ll be there as soon as I can.  Is Eren okay?  I know he’s out cold, but shouldn’t you be calling an ambulance rather than me if things are bad?”  Hanji suggested.

“He’s not beat to hell like I am, if that’s what you mean.  I don’t think he was in the car when it crashed but I was.  He was just laid out beside me…like a gift.”  Something was trying to pull at Levi’s memory, a man holding Eren in his arms, but it was far too murky to make out.

“A gift?  That’s weird.  Then I guess, just call me if anything changes.  I doubt I have to tell you to keep watch.”

“Hanji,” Levi said.  “Thanks.”  He hung up.

Levi sat back down next to Eren.  He pulled Eren into his lap, wrapping him in his arms.  He held him tightly, even as his muscles started to shake.  He was so angry.  Somehow, someone had gotten their hands on his sacrifice and there was nothing he could do to fix that.  Erwin’s car could be rebuilt.  His scrapes and bumps would heal, but someone had laid a hand on something that was truly his. 

He thought back to the events of the day.  He remembered waking up and driving to Trost.  He remembered shopping with Eren, how cute he was clinging to his hand and how hot he was staring deep into his eyes as he gave him head.  Then, the memories just sort of cut out.  He remembered wanting to get a gift for Eren, but he couldn’t remember if he bought it or even what it was.  He vaguely remembered getting into the car, but couldn’t remember why or anything useful.  He even remembered being taken from his car, but not by who or when, and then there was Eren…

Levi had grown tired, but with a head injury, he knew better than to sleep.  He just continued to hold Eren; his sanity depended on it.  He picked up one of Eren’s hands and studied it close, where the veins crossed in the heel of his hand, where the scab was formed from a torn off hangnail, the deceptive softness of the skin.  He buried his face in Eren’s hair and breathed, his scent a mixture of soap and something earthy.  This body was everything he craved, and hugging it tighter to him was the closest he could get to merging.

Whoever had done this was going to pay.

Levi didn’t know how long his half awake-half fantasy state had gone on when the Hanji’s car pulled up to the crash site.

“Levi!” shouted Hanji.  “Are you okay?”

“Holy cow!  Look at the car!”  Petra surveyed Levi’s posture entwined with Eren.  “You guys are so cute!”

Levi glared at her, then went back to staring at the ground.  “I’m better than this,” he said.

“No sense in beating yourself up until we know what happened,” said Hanji.  “Nobody died, nobody was kidnapped, and all of the injuries are treatable!”

Levi stood up and put Eren over a shoulder.  He limped over to Hanji’s car.  Hanji grabbed some of Eren’s weight and they situated him in the middle of the backseat.

“Shall we go?” Hanji asked.

“Actually, I’d like to grab the stuff we bought out of the trunk.  Otherwise Eren won’t have anything to wear,” said Levi.

“Sit down and I’ll get everything,” said Hanji.  “Petra, you can ride up front or help take care of those two in the back.”

Petra squeezed into the back of Hanji’s sedan with Levi and Eren.  She looked at Levi.  “You’ve got some nasty cuts.  Let me clean them out really quick.”

Everywhere she touched stung.  He hadn’t realized how many places he was scuffed up.  Finally she put her first aid kit away.  She checked over Eren, pulling Levi off of him so that she could actually look.

“You weren’t kidding when you said he was pretty much untouched, though wait…” she looked at the inside of his elbow.  “There’s scabbing from a puncture wound, like something was injected intravenously.”

Levi looked at it.  He’d seen that mark many times before.  He checked the other elbow, and there was nothing.  He slid back the sleeves of Eren’s shirt and found another pinprick looking wound deep into the meat of his bicep, and another one on the other side closer to the shoulder.

What had Eren been through?  He opened Eren’s eyes and sighed with relief when he saw the pupils constrict.  He might have had some sort of drug injection, but his reflexes and vitals seemed to be all right.

Petra smiled at him.  “Lost someone that way?”

“Not really, no.”  Levi went back to holding Eren against him.  “I just know what it looks like.  I’ve seen it happen.”

“He’s going to be okay,” said Petra.

“Yes but it’s my fault.  Erwin told me to take a second pair with me if I was taking him out, but I told him I could take care of it,” said Levi.

Hanji climbed into the driver’s seat.  “So that’s the real problem,” she said.  “Besides just letting Eren down, you also let Erwin down—and not just with the car.  I haven’t seen you this angry in a long time and we’ve had our share of FUBARs.”

“Shut up Hanji.  Just drive.”  Levi growled.

“What, do you need me to cover for you and say we were there, too?” said Hanji.  “I dunno, something like 'Petra had to rest, so I took her somewhere else and then you and Eren got separated after we left'?”

“No, it’s fine.”  Levi sighed.  “You don’t need to do that.”

“Suit yourself,” said Hanji as she started the car.

The rest of the car ride was silent, but Levi knew he didn’t have to give anymore directions.  Hanji approached Three Walls from the back, down the road that didn’t lead to the main building.  She drove on the gravel road that approached the building that housed the old labs.

Hanji parked the car in front of a large ramp.  “Okay, this place is better equipped than my facilities in the main building anyhow.  I’m gonna go grab a bed.”

“We’ve bought a little more time,” said Levi.  “But, Gunter and Erd will know we’re here soon, since we don’t use this place much anymore, and we’ll be a power drain while you run everything.”

After running into the building frantically, Hanji came out with…a double bed.  These weren’t the types of beds found in normal hospitals, but they were common in places for healing fighters and sacrifices.  She rolled it down the ramp and hit the brake.

“Help me get Eren on,” said Hanji.  She and Levi carried Eren’s body to one side and hoisted him up on the bed.  “Okay, now do I have to put you on the other side or will you climb on yourself?”

“I’m fine Hanji, let’s just get him in. If anyone, shouldn’t Petra be riding on the other side?”

“Apparently fine to you means brain damaged.  Maybe that explains a lot.  Now I suggest you join your sacrifice or else I’ll let Petra guilt trip you into it.”  Hanji pushed her glasses farther up her nose bridge.

“I told you not to bring Petra,” he mumbled as he got on the other side.

Hanji called to her sacrifice to get out of the car, and Petra ran up the ramp, helping Hanji push the two boys into the building.  She pushed them into a bay-like room.

“Lemme turn on the CT scanner,” she said operating a computer in a small room behind a larger examination room.  “Levi, I know I need to look at your head.  Are you in pain anywhere else now that the shock is gone?”

“No, I just have a bunch of scrapes and some really bad bruises.  No broken bones, sprains, or anything like that.  I’m guessing I hit my head on the roof from the crash and the seat from the airbag.  But that doesn’t explain why the side of my head hurts like a bitch, too.  Like right in the temple.”  Levi rubbed all around his head, wincing as he grazed each place.

“I don’t know.  Who knows, maybe Eren will have something to tell us when he wakes up.”  Hanji typed some codes into the computer.  “Go over there and get on the runner.  I’ll scan your head to make sure that we don’t need to do something radical.”

She ran him through the machine, letting the image data collect.

“I hate to do this, but we really don’t know what’s wrong with Eren.  I’ll check his head, too, and pull out the EEG machine and see what’s going on in that brain.”

Levi interjected himself into Hanji's thoughts.  “Petra and I found a mark on him that is like he had something injected right into the vein.  More stabbed into his muscles, dunno what that was about.”

“Okay, I’ll run a drug panel, too,” Hanji said, noticing the markings as she looked at Eren.  "Though I'm not sure what I'm looking for, so I'm not sure how helpful it will be."

That may be true, but until any snippet of information was found, Levi was going to be wondering about every little thing.

This was going to be a long night.

xXx

Gunter and Erd rode past the old laboratories, noting the lights in the windows.

“I didn’t realize Hanji was running any large scale experiments,” said Gunter.

“Yeah, she usually tells us about that so we don’t freak out about a possible break in.”  He eyed Gunter.  “Let’s take a look.”

Erd crept over to the window.  Thank goodness it was Hanji and not someone they’d have to go after.  He saw Petra off to the side and Levi standing in the middle of the room.

Gunter watched Levi and Hanji haul another body onto the CT scanner bed.  “I don’t recognize him.  Who do you think he is?”

Erd squinted at him and his jaw dropped.  “That’s the new kid.  The one who Levi brought in.  He’s Mikasa’s brother.”

“He’s out cold it looks like, and Levi looks like hell,” Gunter said.  “You don’t think they got into battle did you?”

Erd frowned.  “Why are they doing this here.  Something doesn’t smell right.”

“Well, what do you want to do?  Should we go in and talk to them?  Go to Erwin?”  Gunter questioned.

“I think we should call Mikasa,” said Erd.

“What?  Why?” said Gunter.

“Think about it.  Her brother is an untrained sacrifice.  Erwin blocked her from picking him up.  Erwin blocked her from coming home because of Armin.”  Erd paused. 

He put a hand on Gunter and continued watching as Hanji and Levi returned Eren to the bed.  Levi got on the other side, the fighter’s side.  He grabbed Eren’s hand and stroked his hair.  He laid against him, allowing his body to fit every nook and cranny along his side.  Hanji continued to type things into a computer in the background, Petra sinking into a chair beside her.

“Just look at him and Levi.  They’re pair bonded, and I don’t mean Levi’s lending him support.”  Erd continued to watch Levi’s vigil over Eren.  “Somehow, Levi has chosen him as his current sacrifice, and now he’s gotten him hurt and is hiding it from Erwin.  Or why else would they be here?  When he doesn’t want others to know things, he calls in Hanji and thinks we have no idea what’s going on.”

Gunter nodded.  That sounded like a correct assessment.  “So you want to throw Mikasa in this mess?”

“I know, adding her sounds crazy, but hear me out.”  Erd stroked his chin.  “I think if Mikasa were around, people would be a little more honest where her brother’s concerned.  We’ve found evidence of a possible plan of attack, so what does it matter keeping Armin a secret if the enemy shows up at the door tomorrow?  And if Levi’s gonna start playing games...  Let’s just shut it all down before things get too deep.”

“That’s a phone call I don’t want to make,” said Gunter.

“Good.  We’re not calling them, after all,” said Erd.

“Are you kidding me?” Gunter balked.

“Armin’s gonna need some help getting over here.  I don’t want Mikasa hurting him without meaning to when she learns what’s going on,” said Erd.

Taking a step back from their place peeking in the window, they once again mounted their horses and headed off towards the outpost.


End file.
